Fans at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad during Jaipur-Delhi match.
Telugu Titans captain Rahul Chaudhari scored his first raid point of the season and Hyderabad’s Gachibowli stadium exploded. It isn’t the biggest of sports arenas. As a matter of fact, if one were to make a list of the biggest stadiums in the country, Gachibowli Stadium, where Telugu Titans play their home matches and where the first leg of Pro Kabaddi’s fifth season is being played, probably wouldn’t be considered.
But, where it loses out on capacity, the stadium makes up for it with the atmosphere. It is a closed stadium, which means that the noise bounces off the ceiling, thus making it a recipe for a cauldron like atmosphere. The presence of film and cricket stars have become a prerequisite in any professional league in the country and it is no different in Pro Kabaddi. Sachin Tendulkar and South Indian film industry stars Chiranjeevi and Rana Dagubatti were present for the opening ceremony on Friday and so was Akshay Kumar, who also sang the national anthem.
There was, though, one entity missing from the atmosphere. Noise. It is safe to say that nearly half of the audience that filled the seats as the first match got underway was not present for the opening ceremony. The big screen flashed a decibel metre from time to time. It showed that the sound levels were averaging over 85 dB, a reflection of the aforementioned closed ceiling effect.
The loudest cheers always came whenever Tendulkar came into focus. The batting great’s endearing popularity was there for all to see as the cheers that came for Akshay, Chiranjeevi and Rana Dagubatti paled in comparison to what he received.
But even Tendulkar was no match for the noise levels that one could experience once Telugu Titans and Tamil Thalaivas took to the mat. The crowd only grew more boisterous when Rahul Chaudhari ran riot and led the home side to a comfortable win. The second match between U Mumba and Puneri Paltan, which turned out to be one-sided affair. There was no home side involved and so once again, the crowd was pretty dormant.
On the contrary, this atmosphere was on full display with flowers on either side on Day 2. The first match of the day was between Dabang Delhi and Jaipur Pink Panthers, two teams that Hyderabad wouldn’t care much for, one would think. That is what it looked like in the early minutes when Jasvir Singh’s raids were wreaking havoc on the Delhi defence. It looked like this would be another one sided game but then came the turnaround. Dabang Delhi started fighting back with Iranian duo Meraj Sheykh and Abolfazal Maghsodlou making some truly incredible raids.
The crowd responded and soon the atmosphere was one that could not be seen at any point on Day 1. Every point that Dabang Delhi scored was greeted with a cheer. The underdogs had become the home side, the Iranians had become crowd favourites. The match ended with Delhi recording a remarkable win.
And so, the stage was set for both players and fans of the Telugu Titans to take on Patna Pirates. It was the away side that secured the first two points. But when the Titans came back on level terms, the ceiling shook with all the noise it was holding down. The crowd cheered and booed as the match went by. Even when their team were losing, the sheer joy of watching an on-song Pardeep Narwal was obvious with many cheering him on when he got the ‘Super Raid’ despite that sounding the death knell for the Titans. In the midst of all this, the presence of Jaipur Pink Panthers owner and Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan was forgotten.
All these point out to one inescapable fact. Throw in as many celebrities as you want, the crowd in Hyderabad wants to see some good Kabaddi. You give them that, and they give you a dynamite of a stadium atmosphere.
