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Photo: Bhagya Prakash k.

Ready for action Cameron White, Ross Taylor and Zaheer Khan are gung ho about tomorrow’s game

Equal measures of excitement and trepidation ripple the air around the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The historical venue is all set to host the DLF Indian Premier League’s inaugural match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata’s Knight Riders here on Friday.

The stadium is agog with last-minute preparations for a twenty-20 tournament that is expected to change the face of cricket. The stands and the pillars are glistening with a fresh coat of red and yellow – the colours of Royal Challengers, while out on the far corner, DNA Networks is busy fine-tuning the stage and the related acoustics for the 45-minute inaugural bash.

“We didn’t want a usual Bollywood song-and-dance routine. We thought we will take a visual route with lots of lights, stilt walkers and other acrobatics,” says DNA Networks managing director T. Venkat Vardhan.

And KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel adds, “the public response has been good and there has been demand for season tickets.”

Royal Challengers’ skipper Rahul Dravid had earlier spoken about the need for good crowd support but it remains to be seen whether the Bangalorean, who usually shuns domestic matches while packing the stadium for international matches, will find the time and enthusiasm for the IPL matches, which actually are domestic in status.

However the x-factor, presence of the game’s leading International stars ranging from Jacques Kallis in the Royal Challengers line-up to Ricky Ponting in the Knight Riders’ squad, is expected to lure more footfalls in the stadium and more eyeballs on television.

“We have the best of International players here and I see no reason why the crowds won’t turn up. This tournament will be a success and for youngsters like Virat Kohli in the Challengers team, it would be a good thing to see and learn from seniors like Dravid, Kallis and Boucher,” says wicket-keeping legend Syed Kirmani.

The Royal Challengers’ players in a slew of press conferences underlined their collective belief in testing the other seven teams. “We have an exciting side and can go all the way in the tournament,” says Kallis. Boucher adds, “we do have a few tricks up our sleeve.”

The squad has been training hard at the KSCA (B) ground with chief cricket officer Martin Crowe, coach Venkatesh Prasad and interim coach Vijay Bharadwaj keeping a close watch.

“The sessions have been good, we are getting to know each other and the spirit is good,” says Zaheer Khan. The team however will miss South African speedster Dale Steyn for the opening matches and Aussie seamer Nathan Bracken has also been ruled out because of injury.

Meanwhile the Karnataka quotient in the team led by left arm spinner Sunil Joshi and opener J. Arun Kumar with youngsters like Vinay Kumar and N.C. Aiyappa, is keen to prove that they are up to the challenge of rubbing shoulders with the big boys of cricket. Joshi though has already played for India and knows what it takes to excel on the big stage.

“Watch out for us in the IPL. Ours is a strong team and Rahul knew exactly the kind of players he wanted,” Joshi says, Arun Kumar chips in, “we have trained hard and are just waiting for the tournament to begin.”

Aiyappa meanwhile gushes, “the foreign players are disciplined in their sessions and off the field they are accessible and friendly.”

Over the next 44 days we will know whether the Bangalore team will live up to the high expectations of its franchise holder Vijay Mallya who believes that his team can win the tournament.

There is a touch of nerves as well and it is understandable for a tournament that is making its first steps as Aussie Cameron White rightly pointed out, “not sure what to expect and what will happen.”

K.C. VIJAYA KUMAR

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