While we were in Palolem with Georgie & Rob, we bought tickets for an IPL cricket match in Mumbai, against Rajasthan. They would be getting to Mumbai a few days after us, so we reserved them a room at Indian Guest House and looked forward to seeing them again.
Cricket is massive in India, like seriously huge. Kids don't play football in the street, they play cricket. So when we had the chance to watch a game and feel the amazing atmosphere of being in the stadium, we were soooo up for it!
On the afternoon of the game we saw a couple putting paint on their faces, and asked them if they were going to the match too. They told us they were, and so we started chatting to them, all agreeing we weren't huge cricket fans but were really excited about going. Rob and Georgie then turned up, and were like "Hi guys!" to this couple... turns out they had all met in South India weeks before, haha! We all got chatting, and joined in with Josh and Aimee painting our faces. They had put blue and yellow stripes to support both teams, whereas we just went pure blue... come on Mumbai!
Faces painted, let's go watch some cricket!!
We left the guesthouse a couple of hours before the match started, so that we could have a few drinks on the way. Josh knew a cheap, local hangout so we made our way towards there, but it was shut. Ash and I then offered a place that we'd been to a few nights ago that wasn't too bad, but we got there and that was shut too. At the next bar we passed, we noticed that there was a chalk board displaying "Dry day - open tomorrow" on it. Turns out that it was the ONLY day in the entire month that the sale of alcohol is illegal, couldn't believe our luck! We tried to get some from a few other bars and shops, and asked around if people knew where we could get a drink. Some guy told us the Taj, a grand hotel nearby, was selling beer at 750 rupees (£7.50) a pint... we didn't want it that badly! Instead we made our way towards the stadium, and got a mango smoothie on the way.
Near the stadium it was just packed of people. There is a railway station pretty much next door and it was a nightmare to get through. We ended up going to KFC for some dinner because everywhere was so rammed, but even in there you struggled to grab a seat! Bonkers! Outside KFC they were selling flags and vuvuzelas, so Rob got him and Georgie one. They were soooo loud, haha but definiely got you into the spirit!
We really struggled to find the gate that was printed on our ticket, after spending 30 minutes frantically searching for it, it turned out that we actually needed to walk through the station to get to this gate... really bizarre lay-out! Once we finally found our gate there was the biggest mob of people queued up waiting to get in. It was only about half an our hour before the match started, and we could hear all the music and chanting from inside the ground, we really just wanted to get in there and in the atmosphere! We found out there was a seperate queue for girls, but didn't want to just go ahead and ditch the boys so we waited for them as they made there way through too. At the point where you got searched the staff took everything off you - cigarettes, lighters, handbags, even coins! They said you could collect it at the end, which was pretty weird as they didn't give you a numbered ticket or anything, and you'd just seen everything be chucked together into one massive bin!
We fiiiiinally got in, about 5 minutes before the match started. The atmosphere was amazing and there were big Mumbai flags on chairs for you to swing around - which obviously we did, probably way too enthusiastically! It was such a great match, and Mumbai just won it, woooo! I also managed to get my Dad a shirt from the stadium for his birthday for only 750 rupees, perfect!
Wankhede stadium, between sixes, cheerleaders and mexican waves
As the only white people in our stand, we had quite a few selfies with randomers!
After the match, we went back to the property bin to see what was there and the answer was not a lot. It seemed their system didn't work too well, as was pretty much a free-for-all as we had expected with most of the stuff gone. However, Rob wasn't leaving with some cigarettes, after all he chucked four or five in! He got head first in this massive bin and plucked out a packet... which when he opened it was full - wahey!
So a tip if you are going to watch a cricket match in India (which I would definitely recommend!): just take a few notes and your phone!