Sports Pilgrimage 1, Test @ Chinnaswamy
As some one who has keenly followed sports since a young age, I have drawn a a lot of life lessons from a wide range of sports and sportsmen.
Test cricket in particular has held a special place in my life, from Kumble’s 10 wickets against Pakistan, to Eden Gardens in 2001 to Rahul Dravid at Adelaide in 2003. I have followed the format in earnest in whatever format which our semi nomadic life style allowed us. Newspapers were a constant source, radio since the international matches weren’t broadcast on our beloved terrestrial Doordarshan, and TV whenever the matches were held in India.
So it was an absolute dream come true, when I had the chance to attend the India vs Australia 2nd Test of the 2017 series at my home town Bengaluru in Chinnaswamy stadium. I had attended a couple of IPL games before but obviously they do not count.
The 4 match series was very delicately poised as the visiting Aussies had pulled of a totally unexpected dominant victory in first test at Pune. The usual lackadaisical event management meant that huge lines had build up for the first day of the test which happened to be a Saturday.
Our tickets was in stand A, which is the largest stand in the stadium. It one towards the mid-on/third-man ish, if you observe the photo above.
It was a enthralling day one with KL Rahul holding steady while the team withered around him. Reminded me of the other Rahul, who was frequent part of such innings, Rahul Dravid.
This series itself was pretty intriguing, with India managing to edge the Aussies 2–1 in a very tightly contested affair.
Chinnaswamy holds a special place in our family, as we all know the sports interests is the first thing that is passed on from a father to a son. My Father had attended the first test ever at this stadium. The inaugural test during West Indies tour of India in 1974. So it felt to get to the latest test to happen at the venue.
The test itself turned out pretty interesting with India successfully defending a total of 188 to draw level in the test series.
Here is the link to the match.
Me attending the test match, made me and another good friend of mine come up with our sports pilgrimage list which we would like to do in our lives.
So here it is, my list.
Cricket:
Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Wankhede, Mumbai
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia
Lords Cricket Ground, London, UK
One of the South African ones : Cape Town/Johannesburg/Durban
Football (Soccer)
Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
Allianz Arena/Old Munich Stadium, Munich, Germany
San Siro, Milan, Italy
Wembley Stadium, London, UK
Highbury/Emirates, London, UK
Old Trafford, Manchester, UK
Anfield, Liverpool, UK
Maracana, Rio, Brazil
Basketball
Madison Square Garden, New York, US
Boston Garden, Boston, MA, US
Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, US
Miscellaneous
Twickenham, England Rugby, London, UK
AT & T Stadium, Dallas Cowboys, NFL, Arlington, TX,
Wimbledon, Tennis, London, UK
Monaco Grand Prix, F1
Hopefully I can start ticking things off this sooner rather than later.
Amen!
Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to read this. If you liked it, click the 💚 below so other people will see this here on Medium.
Please do subscribe!
