espnstar.com looks at the mood that prevailed in Bangalore as the opening match of the Airtel CL T20 was played out on Thursday.

By Dominic Franks

A packed house at the Chinnaswamy Stadium ensured that the opening match of the inaugural match of the Airtel  Champions League Twenty20 was played in an atmosphere befitting the occasion.

By the time the glittering opening ceremony finished, there wasn’t a seat to be had in the 45,000 capacity arena. Men, women and children of all ages turned out in vociferous  support of the Royal Challengers. When Rahul Dravid walked out to bat early on, he received the kind of reception die-hard teeny boppers greet their favorite rockstars with. Henry Davids fielding in front of the cheapest section of the crowd (tickets range from Rs. 200 to Rs. 1500, was barracked mercilessly after dropping Dravid at square leg. Walking back after being needlessly run out, Bangalore’s batting behemoth was shepherded of the field by generous applause.

The stadium was choc-a-bloc with members of the red brigade. Those who couldn’t manage official RCB merchandise decked themselves out in red shirts and tops. Quite a few afro wigs were spotted though unfortunately none of them were red. Several members of the audience had their faces painted in the Indian colours and this tournament will be as much about national pride as about crowning the best Twenty20 club side in the world.

Cheerleaders at the stadium actually led the crowd in cheering on the home team. Each time they jumped up to dance, sections of the audience stood up too and mimicked their every move, without the same litheness and agility of course. The hugely popular ‘trumpet blare’ that was a staple at the recently concluded Champions Trophy in South Africa made its debut appearance at an Indian ground today. And after the enthusiastic response from the crowd each time it went off, rest assured the familiar pa-ra-rum-pum-paaa will follow the Champions League band wagon around the country.

If the crowd didn’t let the decibel levels drop, they were others at the stadium working in concentrated silence to ensure that the opening match day of the Champions League went off without a hitch. In the aftermath of the tangible terror threats that cricket has received in the last one year, policemen abounded at the stadium. While the crowds jumped in agitated frenzy when Robin Uthappa hit the first of two sixes, one man walking slowly along the perimeter of the boundary was unruffled. He was decked out in full black gear from toe to foot with a black helmet to boot. A headset under the helmet nestled his ears as he pointed an electronic instrument straight ahead of him. His face was a tight mask of concentration, his eyes a study in deep focus, his steps were measured and precise. He was a commando wielding a bomb detector. Throughout a fifteen minute slowwalk, despite the immense distractions at hand, his gaze didn’t flinch once.

He wasn’t the only earnest policemen around. At the media centre, a young lady was politely asking everyone who passed her if they wanted a cup of coffee. She did the same drill with a policeman who sauntered in. “Cappuchino, Sir?” she asked in sugary tones. Equally sweet came the policeman’s answer. “No Madam, Policeman.”

And finally, during a cricket crisis on the field you’re bound to hear commentators around the world say, “He has to hang in there.” At the opening ceremony today, a mini crisis evolved for the broadcast team when a cluster of helium balloons got entangled in the fly cam. The unseen operator set the fly cam in motion- slowly at first and when that didn’t disentangle the balloons, he had the camera zoom back and forth on its suspension wires at speed. When that didn’t work, a production crew member harnessed himself to one of the beams of the roof of the stadium. After a good tussle he finally managed to rid the fly cam of the offending balloons. So if you missed the bird’s eye view of the opening ceremony on television for a good ten minutes you know why you didn’t miss it for too much longer. It was because someone was ‘hanging in there’.