Legends League Cricket diary: Flying in with legends to a city that came to a standstill for cricket

By K.R. Nayar in Jodhpur

There have been many occasions when I have travelled with the team on a flight from one venue to another either during a bilateral series or during a World Cup.  But never have I been with so many superstars of the game from different countries on the same flight. The Legends League Cricket organisers had chartered a flight for the legends teams, commentators, umpires and officials from Cuttack to Jodhpur.

A packed Barkatullah Khan Stadium in Jodhpur on Friday

Passengers in awe

It was truly a memorable trip being on the same flight with players like Muttiah Muralithan, Ross Taylor, Jacques Kallis, Mitchell Johnson, Mohammad Kaif, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ryan Sidebottom and commentators like Sanjay Manjrekar and many more. Passengers at the Jodhpur airport taking flights to other destinations watched in awe when these legends arrived at the airport.  

Charterx welcomes Legends League Cricket 

Though many have retired five to six years ago, they still carry the aura of greatness with them. The rush for selfies and autographs made them look like superstars!

 

A chili to impress Murali or was it the airline’s ways

Every seat on the flight had back flaps thanking everyone for choosing Chartex, the company that had hired a Spice Jet plane to fly us from Cuttack to Jodhpur. The lunch served on the flight was delicious. There was a red chili placed on top of the rice that got someone to remark whether that was to impress Muralitharan.

 

The spicy red chilli placed over the rice served on the flight 

It is generally said that Sri Lankans enjoy spicy food.   But then we heard that the chili was there since the plane belonged to the  Spice Jet group.

 

The oil tanker with the catchy phrase at the Jodhpur airport 

A tanker’s catchy phrase

As soon as the plane landed in Jodhpur, there was a truck from Indian Oil Aviation waiting to refill fuel in the plane. There was a catchy phrase on top of their petrol tanker, which said: “our ground work takes you sky high.” There were many legendary opening batsmen on the flight whose  ground work that had taken their teams sky high during their playing days.

 

Harbhajan Singh's personal bag 

When the conveyor belt turned into star belt

Waiting for bags on arrival at Jodhpur was interesting.  First came the teams’ kit bags and their personal bags. It was good to see bags with labels in the name of the famous cricketers go past you. One spotted Jacques Kallis personal bag go past and then came Harbhajan Singh’s bag. Some passengers were seen trying to identify the player through their name tags on their bags. It seemed like they could recall the player’s face but not his name.

A budding pacer impresses Sreesanth

A budding cricketer from Rajasthan was thrilled to get a call from Legends League Cricket to bowl at the nets to Bilwara Kings. Seventeen-year-old Nitin Bhatia was called to bowl at the nets on Thursday. This right arm pacer has impressed India’s swing bowler S. Sreesanth. After the net session, Sreesanth told Nitin Bhatia that he had the potential to play for India given the pace he was able to generate at this age.

 

Nitin Bhatia with S. Sreesanth after the nets session 

Nitin Bhatia has represented Rajasthan at the Under-16 age category and was rated as the best allrounder. He was also nominated for the Mathuradas Mathur Award in Rajasthan. He has also played in the Under-19 Challengers trophy. Sreesanth’s encouraging words has made Nitin very happy and he called up his friends and relatives in Dubai to inform them of this. One of them who has been regularly reading Legends League Cricket reports in Dubai informed me of Nitin’s joy and shared with me a picture of the boy with Sreesanth after the net session.

Rush at the ticket counters outside the stadium

A packed Barkatullah Khan Stadium

Jodhpur cricket fans have never seen so many international stars play in their stadium for over twenty years. The last time an international cricket match was held here was in November 2002 when India and West Indies clashed in a One Day International match. The city came to a standstill on Friday with all roads leading to the Barkatullah Khan Stadium. Most fans were seen crowding the Rajasthan Cricket Association counters.

 

Fans waiting in long queues to enter the stadium 

There were very long queues for people to enter the stadium stretching for many kilometers, and one could see they were all waiting patiently to enter the stadium. Within ten minutes of start all the 25,000 seats were filled. Thousands were still outside the stadium. Some found their way to the top of nearby buildings to watch the action.