Hey everybody! First of all, I just entered my fourth year of blogging this March. memoriesthrulens.com began in March 2020 as a result of the support and guidance from my dad and my senior at WordPress- my mom. A huge thanks to each person who supported my blog, it means a lot!! Do like, share and subscribe if you haven’t just yet.

Considering that I’m a mentally overconscientious person who wants to be more sociable, needs to open up further on my thoughts and POV (yep, I’m a work in progress) and wishes to stick true to her values forever, blogging has given me the opportunity to connect with readers and make me feel I’m upto something good each time I pen down my experiences here.

Apart from this blog’s anniversary, it was also my birthday on the 26th of March. I had the opportunity to witness the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match happening in town as a treat on my special day. The IPL happens annually at locations all over the country or occasionally at stadiums abroad.

The match was between Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who are the current champions and home team against the visiting team, Gujarat Titans (GT). It was my first time attending a live cricket match so it took me a while to grasp all that was happening and once I got the hang of things, I truly started to enjoy the vibe around the place.

Gujarat Titans won the toss at 7pm and their captain Shubman Gill opted to bowl first. We joined in at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai (Tamil Nadu), often referred to as the Chepauk Stadium by 7:45pm due to the heavy traffic on the way, despite starting from my grandparents’ home more than an hour earlier.

Throughout the way, I could spot supporters of CSK in vehicles and bikes all headed towards the Chepauk Stadium wearing yellow jerseys in support of our home team. As the stadium was jam packed with a majority of fans in CSK jerseys, I made up my mind to get myself one too irrespective of whether we go for the upcoming matches or not😁.

My mother recollected the time she had accompanied her late grandfather, who was an avid follower of the sport, to this very stadium in 1987 as a young girl for the India versus Australia match as part of the Reliance World Cup tournament. Back then, they had to leave the stadium right before the game concluded to avoid the heavy rush of fans exiting the stadium all at once and got to know the results through the transistor my great grandfather had in hand while heading home in the bus. For my mother, this happens to be one of the most cherished memories with her grandfather.

Each time they showed MS Dhoni on the screens, the yellow army in the grandstands would scream in delight thinking their Captain Cool is going to enter the game, however he couldn’t entertain the crowd with his bat in this innings and when he did come on to the field for wicket keeping with his jersey number 7 on, the match became even more engaging and intriguing to watch for the beginner in me. Though Ruturaj Gaikwad is the current CSK captain and not MS Dhoni, the excitement levels for the star still remained the same.

Do not miss out on this one-minute clip if you are a true fan of Thala Dhoni which I happened to record live by chance..

MS Dhoni’s cool catch

MS Dhoni as the team’s wicket keeper…

We were able to meet few big names of the sport like Sunil Gavaskar, Harbhajan Singh, Lakshmipathy Balaji and yes, yours truly did get selfies with them😉. Towards the end, we also met RJ Balaji, a popular cricket commentator, radio jockey, talk show host and actor.

When I saw DRS written on the screen, my mind immediately connected it with the same abbreviation used in Formula 1. In F1, it stands for Drag Reduction System and is a button activated by the racer (when permitted) to assist in overtaking the car ahead. It opens up the flap of the rear wing and as suggested by the name, helps in reducing the drag and in turn accelerates the speed of the race car. In cricket, DRS stands for Decision Review System.

In case you haven’t yet read my posts on the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship held in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) yet, here are the links-

Formula 1 Grand Prix 2021- World Championship!!! #AbuDhabiGP

#Goodbye UAE- What I’d miss most after leaving UAE!!!!!

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021- Day3 (F1 Qualifying Session)…#AbuDhabiGP

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021- Day2…#AbuDhabiGP

Though it is pretty evident that cricketers and the sport are celebrated grandly in India, this was the first time I got to witness it in front of my eyes and it undoubtedly was an amazing experience and truly made my birthday a memorable one. At times, many people find it surprising that hockey is the national sport of India despite how much more celebrated cricket seems to be!

Cricket surely does require high stamina, proper teamwork plus coordination and quick reflexes from the players to not miss the ball coming from any possible height, speed or direction.

I was struggling to get the right panoramic shot and finally managed to do so towards the end of the match…

Chennai Super Kings won the match against Gujarat Titans by 63 runs!!! They were crowned champions in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2023 and I hope the current season ends with the same trend as well, just like any other fan supporting the other teams teams would wish!

To be honest, prior to this experience, I’ve never been someone who’s tracked the happenings in the world of cricket or even sat down to watch a match being telecast live, but since the last few days I’ve been watching the matches played in different parts of the country in this ongoing IPL tournament whenever possible. This has taught me to always remain open minded in trying out new activities or experiences because you’re never too old for a new hobby.

My next aim is to try my hand at cricket during our future visits to Chennai, hopefully!😉

That’s it for this post guys! Hope you enjoyed reading through this post. Do you watch IPL or just cricket in general? Which team do you support?! Let me know in the comments section below.

LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT AND SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE SUCH POSTS!!!