"Now I am getting nervous for the match. Hope I can sleep," King Khan tweeted 20 hours before his Kolkata Knight Riders took the field against defending champions Deccan Chargers in the inaugural match of IPL-3.
His top-order batsmen perhaps had a sleepless night as they made a hasty retreat to the pavilion before Angelo Mathews and Owais Shaw staged a spirited fight back even as the superstar, who never misses a KKR match, was conspicuous by his absence.
But the thousands in the D Y Patil Stadium in Mumbai where the match took place and those who checked out live cricket on multiplexes across city had their fill as cricket's largest extravaganza got off with a grand opening ceremony.
“The management on ground and the style in which the event was flagged off was outstanding. IPL is clearly getting bigger and better each year,” said Hiren Pandit, managing partner of media agency GroupM, who was in the stadium cheering Deccan Chargers.
“IPL is getting entertaining with each season, I enjoyed the buildup to the game,” yelled Shiv Datta, another Chargers supporter amidst the deafening roars of the crowd.
Reeba Shetty, meanwhile, was not too bothered about wickets and sixes. “Watching Lionel Richie performing Dancing on the Ceiling live in a stadium was a dream come true,” she said, although she thought the finale of the last season was better than this year’s opening ceremony.
If the atmosphere in the stadium was electric with an excited crowd chanting and cheering players and cheerleaders amid heavy security, the scene was somewhat more sober in multiplexes that entered the new world of live streaming of cricket on Friday with about 40% seats occupied.
But the big screen guys are excited about the opportunity and many of them are creating an in-stadium ambience with cheerleaders and even special food menu.
“We are also introducing a season pass wherein a person can watch his favourite team play till the semi final matches,” said an executive of BIG Cinemas.
PVR Cinemas will have face painters and DJs playing music in many of its theatres. “The screening of IPL matches will mark the beginning of a new trend that will help multiplexes to increase footfalls during lean days, Monday to Thursday,” said Gautam Datta, CEO of CineMedia, PVR.
Vishal Kapur, COO of Fun Cinemas, said it is expecting initial occupancies of around 40% and house-full shows for the semi finals and final.
UFO Moviez, which has the theatre rights, has tied up with 350 public venues and over 700 screens to supply a digital feed with no advertisements, its founder and managing director Sanjay Gaikwad said. The company has roped in United Spirits as partner for the public venues.
Pubs and malls, which are spending Rs 1 lakh to Rs 15 lakh for feed depending on the number of outlets and seating capacity, too are ready with special IPL menus and packages. “We have worked out interesting food and beverages packages around the IPL theme and we are marketing our pubs across the country as a place to watch IPL with an HD feed without advertisements,” said Rohan Jaitley of Bistro Hospitality, which runs TGIF out-lets in India.
The company has roped in sponsors like Coca-Cola and Adidas to be part of the IPL theme nights where it will offer packages ranging from Rs 699 to Rs 999.
Hotel chains like ITC-Welcomgroup and Taj Group are screening the matches at most of their restaurants and pubs. A spokeswoman for ITC-Welcomgroup said the chain is screening the matches across all its hotels, Dublin and Golf Bar with special packages.
Then there are those who enjoy cricket most at home. Mihir Bijur, for instance, has made it a ritual to turn his home into a stadium with his friends. “We get together to watch the opening match every season. We like the idea of making home our stadium, cheering and wearing jerseys,” he said.
Bangalore-based Sirish Chander, meanwhile, is planning to catch live action on the Internet. “I can’t leave work early to watch the match on television. So YouTube was a great option for me,” he said. Many cricket fans working late would agree.
