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IPL fever grips Lucknow: To give LSG the ‘home turf advantage’, cricket fans ready to swarm Ekana stadium
Assessing the level of excitement around the matches scheduled in Lucknow, the city administration has beefed up security to ensure that the tournament goes on smoothly.
LUCKNOW The City of Nawabs has never been second to any other town in terms of cricket fandom but the euphoria around the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League, which kicked off on Thursday, is unprecedented. For the first time this year, the state capital will host seven IPL matches in which the city’s own team -- Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) -- will take on its challengers in the field.
A glimpse of the excitement around the IPL matches -- scheduled at Lucknow’s Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium -- was seen when cricket fans gave a rousing welcome to the LSG team, led by skipper KL Rahul, at the iconic Rumi Gate on Sunday. A sea of team supporters gathered to cheer the team and enjoy the cricket-themed drone show thereafter.
While several city residents are ready to support the team at the stadium, others have made plans to watch the matches with friends and family at homes, pubs, or restaurants. Amit, a city resident working as an insurance marketing professional, is all geared up to watch his city team play on the home turf. He said, “As the first LSG match is scheduled on Sunday, my office colleagues and I are planning to watch the game at the stadium. We have arranged a few passes and are planning to buy some tickets as well. We all are very excited to enjoy the first-ever IPL match in Lucknow.”
Another cricket fan, Alok Kumar, who teaches at a city-based engineering college, is also planning to catch live action with his friends. “We may go to watch two or three matches at the stadium. Since the beginning of the IPL tournament, I have been a Chennai Super Kings fan but I don’t want to risk wearing its jersey in a match against Lucknow,” said Alok with an excited smile on his face.
Meanwhile, Rahul Saxena, a part-time cricket coach associated with Gulmohar Mini Stadium at Rajajipuram, expressed his displeasure over authorities not arranging passes for young aspiring cricketers who can’t afford the expensive tickets. “There are around 125 cricket associations in Lucknow but we all get sidelined when these big matches take place in the city. How many young students can afford expensive passes to these games,” he asked.
Traders rake in the moolah as demand for IPL merch soars
Multiple shops at Nazirabad market in Aminabad are selling IPL jerseys of various teams like hot cakes. The shopkeepers are recording better-than-expected sales as cricket fans line up to buy jerseys in the wake of the two-month-long cricket carnival.
“The demand is huge for LSG jerseys as people are ecstatic that the team will play here. A number of customers looking for LSG jerseys are showing up every day,” said Ashish Gupta, owner of Shiv Sport. “As LSG jersey recently changed its colour from sky blue to navy blue, I have ordered a fresh lot of sports gear from BC Market in Kolkata, which is the hub for such merchandise. The starting price of t-shirts is ₹250 for children and ₹350 for adults,” he added.
Similarly, the owner of Novelty Sports shop said, “The demand for other merchandise such as caps, bands, flags of various teams is also high. Given the hype, we have ordered all kinds of IPL merch. They will arrive in a day or so.”
Nishit Shukla, who was buying the jersey for his 1-year-old nephew, said, “I’m buying the jersey as it sets the perfect vibe for enjoying the game. I know that my 1-year-old nephew wouldn’t care much for the jersey but it’s always good to ingrain love for sports in them at an early age.” A national-level sportsman himself, Shukla will purchase tickets to watch the game at the stadium with his family. He also plans to buy jerseys for all of his family members.
City administration geared up to manage spectator turnout
Assessing the level of excitement around the matches scheduled in Lucknow, the city administration has beefed up security to ensure that the tournament goes on smoothly. “Around 32,000 police personnel will be deployed. This will include 22 civil police personnel, 260 female police officials, 370 sub-inspectors, six SP-rank officers, 11 ASPs, and 32 circle officers, along with 1,000 PAC cops,” said Upendra Kumar Agarwal, joint CP.
He added, “For better crowd management, we have given different colours of job cards to the cops. The police officers deployed inside the stadium will have white cards whereas the ones deployed outside the stadium are to be given yellow cards. Similarly, those on the road will have green cards, and so on. This has been done as in previous matches, it was seen that the police officers deployed outside entered the stadium.”
LSG FIXTURE IN LUCKNOW
LSG vs Delhi Capitals | April 1 | 7:30 PM
LSG vs Sunrisers Hyderabad | April 7 | 7:30 PM
LSG vs Punjab Kings | April 15 | 7:30 PM
LSG vs Gujarat Titans | April 22 | 3:30 PM
LSG vs Royal Challengers Bangalore | May 1 | 7:30 PM
LSG vs Chennai Super King | 3:30 PM | May 4
LSG vs Mumbai Indians | May 16 | 7:30 PM