When a Pakistan cricket team last came to Bangalore in 2007 for a Test match, it was possible to organize a pitch inspection tour on the eve of the Test for ticket-holders of a certain hospitality stand.
Come 2012, let alone the pitch, heavily guarded as it is with barricades all round and armed policemen at all four corners of the main square at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, one cannot even enter the pavilion area. Welcome to post 26/11 cricket between India and Pakistan.
The T20 international between the two teams is on Christmas Day but already the stadium is like a fortress, at least going by the number of policemen on duty in and around the area. Having laid out their plans well ahead, the cops moved in nearly two weeks ago and have, in the interim, insisted on having their way.
So much so, that for the first time in the stadium’s history, the VVIP stands, including the main lower pavilion and the adjoining Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) members stand, have also been cut off with an iron fence.
In the light of all the demand, the fact that counter tickets sales on Friday morning to the gallery stand, went off smoothly must have come as a huge relief to the KSCA officials. Putting in place a highly regulated queue system and ensuring that only one ticket per person was issued, paid off. The queue outside the stadium, which started at Gate No. 9 on Queen’s Road opposite Cubbon Park, extended almost till the erstwhile BRV theatre on Cubbon Road but there were no incidents as such.
