Bangalore, May 14 (IANS) In spite of being a working day and traffic snarls enroute, over 35,000 frenzied fans packed the circular M. Chinnaswamy stadium in colourful attire, many of them in Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) T-shirts, sporting its red caps and waving its red flags.
Switching over from its regular uniform in red and golden yellow, home team RCB surprised their frenzied fans by coming out to play in green jerseys to spread awareness about the need to protect the environment and promote eco-friendly measures to save the earth from global warming and climate change.
Put to bat first by toss-winning Mumbai captain Harbhajan Singh on a rain-hit wet ground, the hosts made a disastrous start losing their explosive batter Chris Gayle in the third over for a paltry six runs of eight balls, stunning the fans with a deafening silence across the stands.
Patel's third over, however, proved costly for Mumbai, as he conceded 21 runs, including three no balls and one wide and had to bowl 10 balls instead of six.What's more, he got into altercation with umpire Subrat Das at the far-end when told beware of stepping out of the crease again and again.
Pre-monsoon rains, evening peak hour rush on the first day of the week and the notorious Bangalore traffic stranded thousands of fans en-route to the stadium, which is located in the heart of the city across the famous Cubbon Park but in the central business district.
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RCB team sports green jerseys for eco sake
Switching over from its regular uniform in red and golden yellow, home team RCB surprised their frenzied fans by coming out to play in green jerseys to spread awareness about the need to protect the environment and promote eco-friendly measures to save the earth from global warming and climate change.
"We are wearing green jerseys in support of measures to safeguard our fragile ecology and express our solidarity with our fans' concern for a clean environment. We are the only IPL team to take proactive steps in responding to green issues through such campaigns," RCB mentor and legendary leggie Anil Kumble told reporters before the delayed match started.
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RCB's disastrous start stuns die-hard fans
Put to bat first by toss-winning Mumbai captain Harbhajan Singh on a rain-hit wet ground, hosts made a disastrous start losing their explosive batter Chris Gayle in the third over for a paltry six runs of eight balls, stunning the fans with a deafening silence across the stands.
Though the Jamaican southpaw started his innings with a mighty six in the last ball of the first over of pacer Munaf Patel, he was bowled by the Gujarati lad attempting another huge hit. Gayle's sudden and quick departure was compounded by a tragic run-out of stand-in skipper Virat Kohli in the same over (third) for three when he skidded on the pitch and could not return to the bowling crease as striker Dilshan failed to run across in time.
Similarly, an unintended hit wicket by in-form Saurabh Tiwary in seventh over of turbanator Bhajji (Harbhajan) plunged the home team to three for 47 with only 40 runs coming in the first six overs of power play.
Patel's third over, however, proved costly for Mumbai, as he conceded 21 runs, including three no balls and one wide and had to bowl 10 balls instead of six. What's more, he got into altercation with umpire Subrat Das at the far-end when told beware of stepping out of the crease again and again.
Patel's fourth over and RCB's last over (20th) also turned out to be very expensive as he again conceded to Mayank Agarwal a whopping 24 runs, including two glorious sixes and two fours.
Agarwal, who remained unbeaten 64 of 30 balls, with four sixes and six fours, accelerated the score to a respectable 171 from 147 at the end of 19over and by hitting 35 in last nine balls.
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Rain, evening peak hour rush, gridlock hold up fans
Pre-monsoon rains, evening peak hour rush on the first day of the week and the notorious Bangalore traffic stranded thousands of fans en-route to the stadium, which is located in the heart of the city across the famous Cubbon Park but in the central business district.
With the delayed metro rail project blocking a stretch of the busy Cubbon Road across the posh M.G Road, about 300 traffic cops had a harrowing evening in and around the flood-lit venue in freeing the gridlock even as enraged motorists, restless bikers and indiscipline drivers of state-run buses fretted and fumed on choc-a-bloc roads.
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