David Warner ensured the fireworks were well and truly on, leading Sunrisers Hyderabad from the front with quintessential flamboyance. A capacity crowd beat the heat, and put behind the interruption caused by an outage to one of the floodlights to enjoy the season’s first IPL game in the city, held at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal.
While that was unprecedented, there was another surprise in store: the spectators were permitted to carry their mobile phones into the venue, a practice that was barred till Saturday. While the few who came hoping to sneak in their phones proved the smart ones, those who went by the book rued their fate. If only the officials had released a hand-out on Friday evening announcing the change in rules!
In the 15th over with the score reading 133 for three, the lights on one of the towers on the Eastern Stand went off, forcing stoppage of play. The unprecedented occurrence at a venue known to host near-perfect playing conditions sparked talk of sabotage, especially from among those who now rule the Hyderabad Cricket Association. “ Yeh to sabotage dikhra yaar (this looks like sabotage),” one of them commented
Earlier, HCA president Arshad Ayub inaugurated the media centre renamed after former Deccan Chronicle Sports Editor T.N. Pillay. Former HCA secretary P.R. Man Singh recalled Mr.Pillay’s yeoman services to sports journalism.