It would have been unfair to expect the Chennai Test to provide the match-on-knife-edge excitement of the previous Test against England in 2008. But, so far as tragedies went, there were similarities, with the entirely man-made terror attack on Mumbai on 26/11 contrasting with the natural process of death of a Chief Minister who was quite sports-minded. Adding greater poignancy to the current Test was Cyclone Vardah had ripped the heart out of Chennai’s greenery and mauled its Detriot-of-India status by damaging 250 vehicles ready for export to the world.
Vardah saw thousands more suffer in this City than those unfairly targeted by Pakistan exported terrorists who took aim at Mumbai. However, it was only natural that the sense of loss was somewhat more in 26/11 given the dastardly nature of the attack on India. If the teeming crowds of ODIs and the madding crowds of T20 were not visible at the Chidambaram Stadium during the Test, we could lay the blame at the eye of the storm which whistled through the City just a week ago leaving a trail of devastation even greater than the tsunami of 2004 whose deadly effect was more seen by the shore, leaving everyone else unharmed.
Vardah, demonetisation and dead rubber were like a triple whammy for the average Chennai cricket fans who would generally throng Chepauk for a Test match in great numbers at least over the weekends. If the IJK stands were empty sentinels to the inability of the cricket administration to convince the State and the top court that transgressions could be set right with a little cooperation all around, the emptiness of the MCC top terrace, a popular spot for members of the ancient cricket club of the city to view Tests and internationals, was curiously empty too. This was the clearest sign that Test tickets were not moving as briskly as they were known to once in this cricket-crazy city.
Sport considers itself an all-inclusive entity with a sense of empathy to the society and surroundings. This is why you would find spot ever so willing to stand up and lead in terms of paying homage to the dead. Some of these memorial meetings can be touching, particularly after sporting fans themselves became martyred as in the Heysel Stadium disaster. The ceremonies may seem all too brief, save for a black armband being on display through the day’s play, but then life is also about getting up and going on. Chennai has proved to be the great survivor twice in the last two years and maybe all the people of the metropolis needed a gesture from the Test match.
Given the changed equations in the politics of the land and there being a likelihood of more changes, the TNCA might have to redouble its efforts to get the stands cleared. It appears so silly to have these stands standing there as silent spectators. As modern day demand goes, the Chidambaram stadium is a compact one rather than the gargantuan Gujarat stadium they are planning at Motera. With all the stands occupied, Chepauk can hold 45,000 or so, a capacity that is pragmatic these days. Only the older cricket associations have managed a brilliant mid city location like this – Mumbai and Bengaluru, which came up in the same year (1974-75), Kolkata and the Kotla on the edge of New Delhi. To get a fully operational Chepauk would be a major victory for cricket.
The curators did not have sufficient time after Vardah to make a Chepauk turner of the type that changed history in 2013 just after India’s 8-0 whitewash in England and Australia.
But that did establish once again an old tradition that Chepauk used to be fair to the visitors and the home team. “May the best team win” has been the motto for long, more so since the sporting public of the city are known to accept any result provided the cricket had been good. Remember the standing ovation the crowd gave the Pakistan team in the 1990s when the visitors got through in an exciting finish!
There is a deep-rooted cricket culture in the city which might not have been too evident in the thinly populated stands. Cricket at Chepauk has always defined quality regardless of whether there was pace and bounce in the pitch or it was a square turner. There is always the hope that something would happen and the Test would wake up on the final day and produce the excitement of a positive result rather than a dull draw. The city, just about recovering from the December syndrome of a natural calamity, might deserve it.
