HCA plays spoilsport, as usual, at Uppal Stadium

HYDERABAD: It was supposed to be a cracker of a match and indeed it was. With a back to form Dhoni and Suresh Raina putting up a spirited show in the first ODI with England at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, cricket fans in the City had every reason to cheer.But then as it always seems to happen, their on field heroics, notwithstanding, spectators had a tough time in the stands due to poor facilities and of course, the scorching heat.For starters, the absence of crowd favourites like Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Harbhajan and Zaheer proved to be a dampener.In fact, only about 65 per cent of the stadium was filled for the first innings. According to the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), the attendance was just about 28,181 in the almost 40,000- capacity stadium.As the toss flipped in Dhoni’s favour and he decided to bat first, there was visible relief among the crowd but that was short-lived.Rajesh Reddy, a software employee and a cricket fan, fumed, “There should be some shelter for us, since we have to sit for almost seven hours in the stadium.I have blisters on my feet and back because of this extreme heat and it won’t be cool till six in the evening.” The unorganised food counters, lack of proper drinking water facilities, exorbitant rates for the food stuff and parking problem proved too much for the fans so much so that they raised placards denouncing the HCA in the Rs 4,000 ticket stand.“No water, HCA down down,” screamed the placards.There was mild lathicharge too in the same stand as the spectators sought to vent their anger on the HCA.“The facilities are horrible. I had to wait for a very long time for a glass of soft drink. There is just one counter,” said a visibly upset Rajashekar, one of the spectators.C Viswanatha Reddy, a software employee of Irus, echoed the same views.“The food items are really costly. I had to pay Rs 40 for two small samosas!” He was also furious about the ticket sales. “I think a lot of tickets were sold in black. Of the 2,000 tickets allotted to one centre, about 50 per cent were accessible to people. When they ask for an ID proof, they should limit the number of tickets a person can buy to just two. Else, a lot of us won’t get the opportunity,” he pointed out.All was not bleak though.Dhoni, and Suresh Raina stole the thunder and the crowd roared at every run they scored.“They are the future,” observed P Bhargav, a student.