“What a rollicking start! Brilliant shot Rohit. C’mon India,” shouts P. Ramasamy, an LIC agent, in full throttle and everyone gathered around him respond with thunderous cheers. The Snooker Bar of the Hotel V-Grand had good number of visitors to watch the India-Bangladesh quarterfinal clash on big screen.
Watching cricket with friends is no doubt more exciting for the fans than watching the matches alone at home. After all, you need people to share your emotions with. The person next to you need not necessarily be your friend. From the moment you share the space with him, the stranger turns into a friend.
“I have made a lot of friends like this,” says N.C. Babu, cricket coach and director, Babu Cricket Academy. “We used to gather in front of television showrooms hours before the match started and also shared snacks while watching the match. And if India won, sweets were distributed,” he recalls.
Students bunking classes and office-goers taking leave from work to watch cricket are not out of place either. “Those days I bunked classes for weeks together,” says Mohanraj Rajadurai, secretary, Majestic Cricket Club.
Many have already made their plans to watch the live telecast of the World Cup 2015 semi-final and final matches with their friends, families and acquaintances. “I have made arrangements for screening the matches on the terrace of my home and also made it compulsory for all my trainees to come and watch,” says Babu.
The craze for cricket is such that people like M. Muthukumar, a businessman, used to book rooms in hotels and watch the matches with his friends. “Now I book tables in restaurants,” he smiles. The whole experience of watching cricket with friends is obviously redefined and city hotels, restaurants and bars are cashing in on the frenzy.
The Gateway Hotel, Pasumalai, is in the forefront telecasting live all the matches on a 55-inch OLED TV at the GAD restaurant. From soups to appetizers to main course, the menu is filled with funky names such as ‘Gayle's gangnam style chicken’ (black pepper and cafreal chicken), ‘Ashwin’s dhoosra’ (palak and dhaniya shorba) and ‘Akmal ka kamaal’ (chicken shorba).
“We have made elaborate arrangements for this world cup. Our Executive Chef Arun Mohanraj has handcrafted special barbecue sizzlers called ‘Scintillating Virat's sizzler’. It is a selection of lal mirch paneer tikka, tandoori gobi, tandoori malai aloo, tandoori babycorn and broccoli mirch tikki,” informs the general manager Indranil Ray.
There is also an ‘All rounders’ platter’. It is a selection of lamb cutlets, barbecued chicken picatta, jumbo tenderloin steak served with onion mash, grilled vegetable and merlot thyme sauce. ‘The sizzling from down under’ is a treasure house of Madurai’s gourmet seafood.
Besides, the hotel is also offering interesting cocktails, hand-blended by Master Bartender Ananth at Harvey’s Lounge, such as ‘Thunder down under’, ‘Dhoni’s helicopter shot’, ‘Kohli’s square drive’, ‘Clarke’s pull’ and many more thirst quenchers.
“Match time is our biggest disadvantage,” says Senthil, Manager, Barcode, Hotel Annamalai. “The matches start by 9 a.m. and those scheduled in New Zealand start as early as 6.30 a.m. By the time we open our bar or restaurant, the match is over. We started screening matches live but it did not evoke good response. I even recorded the match to screen it later in the evening. It too did not click,” he says.
According to S. Ravi Sundar, Food and Beverages Manager, The Hotel Fortune Pandiyan, not many come to the restaurant during weekdays to watch the match. “We screen the matches at night at our Charcoal Skewers,” he says. The Barbeque Bistro has come out with a discount offer of 20 per cent on booking a table in advance and 10 per cent for all walk-ins on days when India plays.
