Looking at the Indian Premier League (IPL) frenzy so far, it is hard to imagine if cricket alone has managed to lure the thousands to the stadiums. The presence of superstars like Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Anil Kapoor at the venues seem to have added that extra zing.Therefore, in Hyderabad, when crowds thronged the Rajiv Gandhi cricket stadium in Uppal on the eve of the match between Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils to see if tickets are available, it was only logical to expect that either ‘megastar’ Chiranjeevi or ‘superstar’ Nagarjuna might grace the venue on Tuesday evening.That is as far as the entertainment quotient is likely to go ahead of Deccan Chargers’ first home match. As the third costliest team in the IPL, after Mumbai Indians and Bangalore Royal Challengers, it is surprising to find that the focus here is absolutely cricket, at least for now. Even as far as the team officials go, leave alone the players, coach and support staff, the expectations of having Shahid Afridi fly down to Hyderabad for the all-important match is a lot more than any filmstar making it to the venue.“The team is focused and is looking to win its first match. We’re all in no mood to deny them their comfort space here,” say a bunch of officials as members of the Deccan Group.The news of Afridi’s arrival, in fact, has spruced up the preparations of the Deccan Chargers team, who lost their first match against Kolkata Knight Riders. “He should be joining us for this game,” Deccan captain VVS Laxman announced enthusiastically. If Afridi does, then the team will rest New Zealander Scott Styris to play the belligerent Pakistani all-rounder, who has already announced that he’d like to go after Brendon McCullum’s recent record of 158 not out.As far as Delhi Daredevils go, they only have to repeat the performance they put up in the last match at home or get better, for which there seems to be ample scope. “We have the psychological edge,” says Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag. He’s right, Delhi do have the edge and their frontline bowler Glenn McGrath needs to get a lot of credit for it. In the match against Rajasthan Royals, McGrath’s four-over spell may not have been the most economical but the way he left the Royals top order confused with his genuinely tight spell is an indication of what he’s kept in store for himself as part of his post-retirement benefit plan. To say it the other way round, the likely contest between McGrath and Gilchrist, or Symonds, will be the key to this match as far as Hyderabad’s batting goes. Whether Chiranjeevi or his brother manage to make it to the stadium or not, this will be one contest that even the die-hard Andhra film fans will not want to miss out on.
