India vs Australia: Chennai sheds its CSK-Yellow, ready to deliver booster shot to World Cup | Cricket-world-cup News
Numerous fans wait patiently outside the gates at Chepauk, asking anyone they see if they have a ticket or two to spare. There are also people who secretly wish to offload their tickets for 3x the actual rate. Inside the arena, the officials’s phones are buzzing with polite enquiries from city’s big wigs, bureaucrats, and civil servants for tickets. There are also visuals of former international and domestic players walking away in a huff, unhappy about not getting even one extra ticket.
For a World Cup that got underway on Thursday in Ahmedabad in front of largely empty seats, followed almost similar scenes at Hyderabad, Dharamsala and New Delhi, it is safe to say the party will come alive in Chennai with India vs Australia on Sunday.
For a city that missed out on hosting the 2016 T20 World Cup, the one on Sunday is the first big-ticket event since India’s last league match against the West Indies in the 2011 World Cup. Unlike 2011, when cricket hoardings dotted the city, it’s been generally quiet around the town. For a venue that sees thousands of fans turn up to even watch their team – the Chennai Super Kings – practice, in the lead up to the fixture, that sort of frenzy has been surprisingly missing.
The big buzz in the city is around the movie Leo, a Vijay-starrer slated for Diwali release.
Yet, Sunday will a whole lot different. All around the stadium, where yellow has been the favoured colour, it is hard to spot nothing but blue. Even the numerous sports-goods shops which had a yellow colour name plate have shifted to new colours. Inside, the famous yellow jerseys of the city is being replaced with the blue-coloured ones. Yellow, traditionally Australia’s colours, won’t be the flavour of the city. At least, not on Sunday.
India’s captain Rohit Sharma, right, along with Ravichandran Ashwin attends a training session ahead of the ICC cricket world cup match against Australia in Chennai, India, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
India vs Australia at Chepauk has a storied hory in itself. These two teams have featured in a tied Test. In the 1987 World Cup, in their campaign-starting first game – like this time – they played out a thriller that India lost one run. In 1998, this was the stage where Sachin Tendulkar vs Shane Warne entered folklore and gained cult status. In 2001, this is where the two teams played out the greatest series of all-time, and Chepauk threw up a nail-biting climax in favour of India that few Tamil movies can match up.
And now as India begin the tournament, looking to break their ICC title drought, they run into an Australia team that is considered among the favourites to lift a record sixth title. While the past head-to-head records is heavily loaded in favour of the Aussies, at the World Cups this contest has become India’s most revered fixture, where if they end up on the winning side, it is known to have a knock-on effect. After all, the last time India went on to win the World Cup, they had to breach the psychological barrier of beating Australia.
The story will be no different on Sunday as well. With the chances of these two teams facing each other in the semifinals or in the final rather high, Sunday offers the opportunity for both to land the early punch. Going how both teams performed in the six bilateral ODIs they played this year, it is hard to pick a favourite between the two. Both not only have a well-balanced squad at their disposal, but also a wealth of all-rounders, who could potentially end up orchestrating their success story. A contest where Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin up against Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell makes for a wonderful subplot in itself. With most of these star allrounders growing up when ODIs still had global relevance, who better than them to send a reminder that the 50-over World Cup will remain the pinnacle of ICC tournaments.Most Read
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Throw in Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins… the star cast for Sunday definitely has all the making for the game that this World Cup desperately needs as a booster shot.
While it did remain gloomy on Saturday evening, the weather forecast put out the IMD has only predictions of slight rain which is unlikely to have any sort of impact on the match.
Chepauk is ready. So are India and Australia. Let the World Cup come alive.
