MUMBAI: It's about 11.00 AM on Tuesday. The haze has just lifted and the sun is beginning to beat down. Wankhede is 51 hours out from hosting India at the World Cup. Outside the team hotel, the team bus has attracted a bevvy of onlookers who have parked themselves by the Arabian Sea to catch a glimpse of Rohit Sharma & Co.
Twelve years ago, the Class of 2011 took the same route on the morning of the final against the same opponents, Sri Lanka. After they won the World Cup that day, Marine Drive was jammed. The team bus took 90 minutes to traverse the short distance between the Wankhede and the hotel where they were staying.
Meet Dangarwala, one of many who saw the 2011 final in the flesh, described it as a 'baarat' (wedding procession). "It was a party that night," he remembers of a city that "had come to a standstill". There were no such scenes on Tuesday. It took them less than 10 minutes to reach the Stadium.
Even if it's 12 years removed from that early April night, many friendly ghosts linger inside Wankhede to give some instant recall value. For one, a statue of Sachin Tendulkar is supposed to be unveiled before the match on Wednesday. The spot where the six landed off MS Dhoni's bat has been immortalised. As you would expect, there are myriad pictures of that Saturday.
But look around the city and there is a sense that 2023 is a world away. For want of a better phrase, the city's pollution levels have shot up; the morning haze is so in your face you can even feel it. The Air Quality Index (AQI) levels show the city in an alarming light (the Bombay High Court is concerned). England No. 3 Joe Root mentioned it after their heavy defeat at the hands of South Africa. "I’ve not played in anything like that before," he had said. "I’ve obviously played in hotter conditions, and probably more humid conditions. But it just felt like you couldn’t get your breath. It was like you were eating the air. It was unique."
The cascading effect has meant that the maidans -- the living, breathing embodiment of the sport in Mumbai -- have felt it. A few days ago, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), announced a 'water-spraying initiative' at Shivaji Park to tackle dust pollution. The daily enterprise would see BMC use upto 2.9 lakh litres of water. If that's the scene at Dadar's Shivaji Park in Central Mumbai, then you can hear the metro construction from Azad Maidan in South Mumbai. The main cause for the prevailing conditions is the construction sites that seem to have sprung up in parts of Mumbai.
You can't escape this dust inside the Wankhede as well. It was a state-of-the-art facility in 2011 but in 2023, it could do with a new coat of paint. In one specific part of the stadium, there was some green mould as well; not a good look during the World Cup. Right next to the entrance, cables were hanging all over the place (in typical last-minute jugaad, these protrusions have been covered before the India match). But Wankhede will always have a pride of place thanks to that 'crazy night'. Here's Vipul Yadav, who got his ticket thanks to the lottery system that was in place for the World Cup 12 years ago. "If someone had told me it (World Cup) was going to happen in my city, India will play in it, we will win the final and Dhoni was going to finish it in the way he finished, I would have said get out of here," he told this daily.
He called it the best moment of his life. "It was so special that I even forgot to take my camera out." Only after Yadav made his way out of the Stadium did he realise the enormity of what he had seen. "Once the match finishes, people usually leave the stadium. But that day, none of us had left. An hour or so after the match finished, a cop came to us and said 'Listen, you have to leave now'. When we left, only then were we getting to understand the enormity of the occasion because the party had spilt onto the streets. I was too overwhelmed so I went home and wanted to be in my own space. I didn't want to dilute it."
Dangarwala echoed the same sentiment. "Only when we walked out of the Stadium, did we realise what we had seen. Following the team bus back to the hotel... It was unreal. It's an experience I will never forget in my life. Cannot describe it in words. "It was a party. Marine Drive usually gets jammed during Deepavali but I had not seen Marine Drive get that jammed ever."
Faraz, who saw the game from the Sachin Tendulkar stand, was subject to hugs from random people on the streets. "There were people on the streets wherever you went," he said. "I went to Andheri after the game and the roads were packed. People hugged me. It's something I had not experienced before."
When did all of them start believing they were about to witness something magical? "It was around the time when Dhoni hit a couple of boundaries off (Lasith) Malinga. About 30 minutes from the end, the crowd very organically started singing AR Rahman's Vande Mataram," Yadav said (it's something Dhoni himself has mentioned a few times). "That was it," for Dangarwala as well. "I had actual goosebumps."
With the way India is going at this World Cup, the Stadium is likely to welcome them back for a second time (as long as Pakistan don't face them in the semis, India will play their last-four clash in Mumbai). If they do end up winning that match, expect the city to send them off to Ahmedabad with a similar party to the one they hosted in 2011.
