Being in South India, I opted for the local choice of masala dosa as well as coffee with crossaints and a danish pastry, which turned out to be a banana flavoured muffin. Bar the downfall, breakfast was enjoyable; maybe that was due to the 1st proper breakfast we had.
After finding out the day before we're hot targets for the hustling rickshaw drivers, we had the hotel staff hail our rickshaw. Every vehicle was packed with cricket fans heading to the stadium, which added to the excitement.
Half a mile from the stadium we saw a massive queue, and just hoped that wasn't the queue to get inside; but to our disappointment it was.
As our rickshaw driver dropped us to the entrance dropped us at the entrance and the back of queue half a mile back, we didn't quite know what to do. Rather than stress on that, we got into the spirit of watching cricket in India and had the tricolor painted on our faces.
Then come out the Indian-ness in us, as Chirag decided we're not waiting in queue and someone needs to be bribed to cut in. And it worked. A bit hypocritical on our part, but hey we were just trying to get in the local spirit!
After a shortened wait in the queue (if you can call 45 mins that) we finally make it to the gate to be frisked 2 times and go through another 2 check points.
We settled into our seats, in Stand H, which was for all those who had their tickets from Kollotta transferred over, though the view didn't allow us a sight of the replay screen. An unattended, open gate provided an opportunity to sneak into the adjacent stand to which we had no hesitation in grabbing.
We watched England train, waiting in anticipation for the boys in blue to turn up - well they're actually the boys in red during training sessions.
Contrary to popular belief that Munaf is a lazy cricketer, he actually turned up for training half an hour before the rest of the team. We got our first taste of the noise an Indian crowd can make when the little master himself stepped out to the middle.
Ground was pretty much packed out by the time the match started. After the nervous start it was a treat to watch the master at work. The way he took to Englands 2 key bowlers was a reminder of the 90's. Each stroke was greeted with a roar that sent a tingle down the spine.
India looked in total control, through out their innings. I felt we could have attacked a bit earlier with the batsmen in the hut and if we did lose wickets, the batsmen coming in would have had more time to get their eye in. At the end it seemed like India got complacent thinking they had done enough to put the score out of England's reach -possibly over-rated our bowling attack.
The break provided an opportunity to get something to eat and drink - its hard enough trying to get something at a sporting event, but when there is no order and a communication problem, it becomes a nightmare.
England came out to bat with the right intent and straight away put India on the backfoot, unimaginative field placings and unwillingness to attack didn't help the cause. England kept up with the run rate the whole way, never allowed India to build any pressure, continuously picking up boundaries every over.
If England didn't take the batting powerplay they would have cruised to victory. The bowling was non-threatening, especially Chawla who dropped the ball short on a regular basis. Zak bowled quite beautifully in his come back spell, knocking out the 2 set batsmen in successive deliveries, sending the crowd ecstatic.
It was quite disappointing to see the crowd drop their shoulders and any attempt to get them going didn't help. Only the wickets changed their mood.
As good as Sachin's innings was, Strauss was on another level, the ease with which he played the Indian bowling was spectacular viewing even though we were at the receiving end. Though I must say the ball seemed to be coming on a bit better in the 2nd innings.
The Bell LBW review left the crowd quite confused - from screaming and dancing to being brought back down to earth in a matter if seconds and it just felt like nothing was going our way; my phone was switched off but I had to switch it on and whatsapp Paras to find out what had happened.
Don't know if I was happy it sad with the result, there were times when England had it in the bag and times we had it secured. India need to look at their bowlers and make sure we go in with the right combination in future games.
With heavy crowds leaving the stadium and heavy traffic, another 2km walk was in order and a wrong turn turned that into 3km.
Everything supposedly closes at 11 in Bangalore, so chances of getting any food looked slim, until we passed a KFC, the less said about the service, the better it is. But they had some awesome drinks on the menu.
Preparing to go next morning, we packed our bags and caught up with everyone and before we knew it, it was 3am
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