CSK vs RR

A lovely match to see in the stadium! It is not often that you see a classy innings with the bat (Vijay) and a good bowling performance (Bollinger) in the same T-20 match. I doubt Bollinger has ever received such a reception! Vijay's innings was great to watch, no slog at all and Morkel's six hitting is always good fun.

But my first reaction in the stadium was "hats off" to the teams who actually play in the 4.00pm Chennai sun. We were in the newly renovated stands which is supposed to allow "breeze" to come through. However only part of the stand is covered. Reaching at 3.20pm, we did not find places under the covered part and we "roasted and sweated" in the sun for the next 2 hours. After 6.00pm it become pleasant.

But I am not sure if these new stands are good for Chennai. Imagine watching an ODI or a test match from these stands without the benefit of a roof. Having watched test and ODIs at chepauk, I will not willingly spend a day in the sun like this. There was atleast a 5 degree difference between being in the sheltered portion and the uncovered part. Even these couple of hours were barely tolerable.

To add to this, the refreshment stand was not well planned. Since you are not allowed to bring in any bottles, the entire stand wants water and soft drinks more than anything else. However there was only one kiosk selling this for our stand. The food ones were relatively empty. Also for some reason, they would not sell bottles. Imagine selling a glass of water only at a time -- we ourselves went thrice for water and there should have been atleast 3 kiosks per stand selling drinks! I hope they fix this issue for the next matches.