Living with the Lions: On the road and in the air in the Indian Premier League

DELHI // When Ben Stokes delivered his run-chase masterclass in Pune on Monday night, it was rapturously enjoyed by the home supporters. The stands at the Maharashtra Cricket Association ground were awash with the purple shirts of the home team, but the stadium was not exclusively theirs. Thousands were wearing the luminous orange of Gujarat Lions, too. How did they get there? An English Premier League football fan, for example, might happily brag they support their team at every match, home and away. To do similar in the IPL, supporters might want to borrow Scotty’s teleportation machine from the Starship Enterprise. At the very least, they would require a substantial budget and a comfy flight pillow. Take Gujarat, the team of the UAE's first IPL player, Chirag Suri , as an example. The Rajkot-based side visit nine different cities in 36 days for the 14 regular-season matches. For a die-hard supporter to take in each game, they would need to shell out the equivalent of around Dh7,430 solely on flight tickets. Match admission, accommodation, auto-rickshaw, train and taxi fares would be on top of that. __________________________________ Read more ■ IPL 2017: Heroics of Stokes and Dhoni cap a fun night for Pune ■ IPL 2017: Punjab keep play-off hopes afloat with win over Delhi ■ IPL 2017: RCB need big guns need to step up to save season __________________________________ The trip would include 22 flights, at least two lengthy train journeys, more than 65 hours either on an airplane or at an airport, and cover over 13,000 kilometres. The Lions campaign ends with two “home” matches in Kanpur, against Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad. They are termed home games, despite being 1,068km away from Rajkot, and in a different state — Uttar Pradesh — altogether. Furthermore, if the touring Lions supporter lived in Rajkot, getting back from the game in Kanpur would be the biggest challenge of the whole IPL expedition, with direct flights between the two cities non-existent. The convoluted return journey might require a three-hour drive to Lucknow from Kanpur, then air travel comprising three flights and nearly 27 hours of travel. Either that or a 1,295km train ride. The lanyard-wearing classes of the team entourages could just about manage it, if they did not have anything else on for those six weeks. Ben Stokes delivered a run-chase masterclass on Monday night. Indranil Mukherjee / AFP But, according to Kriissna Mehrra, a menswear fashion designer from Delhi, the distances between IPL venues makes visiting each match all but impossible for the average supporter. Nominally a Delhi Daredevils fan, he has switched his allegiance to Gujarat for this season after his cousin, Suri, was signed by the Lions. Mehrra is going to see them play at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium, in his home city on Thursday. Other than that, support will be via a television screen. “I would love to travel to watch the games because I love being in the stadium, but it is a major issue because of the distances,” Mehrra said. “I have just seen matches in Delhi. I have met many people who do travel, friends of mine who have gone to Dharamshala, a beautiful stadium with a unique view.” A study commissioned by Uefa this year had the IPL as the 12th best attended sporting event in the world, with an average gate of 32,800. The IPL is the 12th most supported sporting event in the world. Indranil Mukherjee / AFP Most of those above it on the list — rugby’s Six Nations Championship was first — bar perhaps the NFL, have high numbers of travelling supporters. Mehrra thinks IPL supporters are motivated by seeing specific players in the flesh, rather than a deep feeling for a team. As such, they will wait until those players visit a stadium near them instead. “In the IPL, it is not like you really follow a team,” he said. “There are so many international players that you follow, like, say, Steven Smith or Virat Kohli. “You want to see those players playing live. It is a different feel altogether. When the international stars you like come to the stadium near you, then it is worth spending your money to go to watch.” Given the relative newness of a competition celebrating its 10th season, there is little historical enmity between teams. Rivalries between opposing supporters are more playful than bitter, according to Bobby Suri, Chirag’s father. He travelled from Dubai to watch the Lions play away in Mumbai, and at home to Royal Challengers Bangalore in Rajkot. MS Dhoni’s No 7 shirt is one of the most popular among the fans. Indranil Mukherjee / AFP “As Gujarat Lions fans in Mumbai, there were only 25 of us, against 35,000 for Mumbai Indians,” Bobby said. “My wife and I walked the 10 minutes from the Oberoi Hotel to the Wankhede Stadium, and on the road we could only see blue T-shirts. We were waving our orange flags, and were against the 35,000, so the cameras would come on us a lot. “There was no hostility at all. They were very good towards us, they kept laughing and enjoying the game. If Gujarat Lions hit a six or a four, they were naughty, but it was a really nice feeling.” Suri Sr said the volume of away fans for RCB for their game in Rajkot proves Mehrra’s point: that supporters are more bothered about seeing their favourite players rather than team. The match in Pune bears out the point. Street vendors outside the out-of-town stadium sell the purple shirts of the home team at 300 rupees (Dh17) a pop. Their sales pitch refers to their wares as “Dhoni shirts”, though, rather than Rising Pune Supergiant ones. Many IPL fans will watch Royal Challengers Bangalore just to see Virat Kohli. Indranil Mukherjee / AFP Almost everyone in the ground has No 7 “Dhoni” on their back, while Gujarat Lions fans, of which there were many, wore No 3 “Raina”. “For RCB in Rajkot, there were maybe 6,000, I would guess — and that is solely because of Virat Kohli [the RCB captain],” Bobby Suri said. “I happened to be staying in the same hotel as him. Before or after the game, there would be 5,000 people outside the hotel, just waiting to see Virat Kohli. “Our car would take 10 minutes to get in to the hotel. The craze for him is huge. He is not just the India captain, he is a very, very popular guy.” Big hitters like Glenn Maxwell also attract a lot of attention from IPL fans. Money Sharma / AFP Anubhav Raina, an expat from Delhi living in Dubai, has made a tradition of flying back home to see a specific IPL fixture each year. He has changed that this season, because a good personal friend of his might be playing for the opposition this time. “For the past few years I have gone to the Delhi versus Kings XI Punjab,” he said. “It has become a tradition for me, having initially chosen that game because they had big hitters like Glenn Maxwell and Virender Sehwag. But I have chosen to go for the Gujarat match now, because Chirag is going to be there.” pradley@thenational.ae Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport