IPL 2022: Traffic lights, camera, action

Around 300 players, 140 support staff will be mobile for IPL games and for their respective practice sessions. To ensure they have a smooth journey to and fro so matches start as per schedule, around 1100 Mumbai Police personnel, including Traffic Police, around 60 IPL staff and 500 volunteers will be engaged during the duration of the tournament.

The IPL jamboree is expected to crisscross Mumbai, moving from hotels spread across South Mumbai, western suburbs Andheri, Juhu, Bandra and Santacruz and Navi Mumbai to training grounds and match venues that are equally flared out from ‘Town’ to Thane to near Nerul, and Mumbai-Pune expressway. It will be a far cry for teams from their usual short jaunt from Trident at Nariman Point to Brabourne or Wankhede, along Marine Drive when they play in Mumbai.

This will be a sinuous exploration of Mumbai-proper, and all teams are expected to create playlists for the longer bus journeys, taking in the arterial roads and flyovers and generously treading the eastern freeway connecting south to the east with its dotted refinery vistas and Wadala towers.

The fancy IPL teams might not necessarily take halts at Lonavala for chikki and vada pav, but the expressway with its cherry blossom blooms and famous hill tunnels with bats hanging upside down will add to the travelling atmospherics when they undertake the Mumbai-Pune journey.

Twenty matches each will be held at Wankhede Stadium & DY Patil Stadium, while 15 matches each at Brabourne and MCA International stadium, Pune. There will be 12 double headers in total with the first matches starting at 3:30 pm. All evening matches will start at 7:30 pm. Apart from four venues, the BCCI decided that the team can practice at MCA-BKC grounds, Thane’s Daddoji Konndev Stadium and DY Patil Stadium. All these venues have facilities for floodlights and are located in different parts of the city.

Cops to ease snarls

BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that it will be a big challenge for the board and for all stakeholders to have an IPL in one city.

“We have a 60 member IPL team which will work round the clock and there are 500 volunteers apart from local state association members, who will ensure the tournament will run smoothly. There are lots of agencies like Mumbai Police, the Traffic department and other government agencies. There will be a person from the testing department too. So a lot of people will be working behind the scenes to make this happen,” Shah told The Indian Express.

The Indian board had given IPL teams the option to choose their hotel as per their choice, and a secure bio-bubble has been maintained which the BCCI will monitor. Shah said each IPL team was taken into confidence before the board came to the conclusion to have the IPL in one city. “We wanted to have it in India, in order to minimize the risk of Covid, we decided to have it in Mumbai. At the moment the cases are low and if you look at other countries, cases have been increasing rapidly. We didn’t want to take a risk this time, so we decided to have the IPL in Mumbai and Pune,” Shah added.

In the event of rising cases, the IPL will continue in Mumbai.

Logistics challenge

The famous Mumbai traffic on some days even trends on Twitter. The Indian board has ensured that each team plays at each venue which means all teams will play at their respective Stadium at least once. Ten IPL teams will be stationed in different locations of Mumbai. Chennai Super Kings (Trident, Nariman Point) and Delhi Capitals (Taj Palace, Colaba) in South Mumbai. Gujarat Titans (JW Marriot, Sahar) KKR (ITC Grand Central, Parel), Lucknow Super Giants (Taj Vivanta, Navi Mumbai), Mumbai Indians (Trident, Bandra Kurla Complex), Punjab Kings (Renaissance, Powai), Rajasthan Royals (Grand Hyatt, Santacruz), Royal Challengers Bangalore (Taj Lands End, Bandra) and Sun Risers Hyderabad (ITC Maratha, Sahar). The BCCI has offered the option of two hotels in Pune, in case teams want to stay there.

Mumbai Traffic Police joint commissioner Rajvardhan Sinha sounds confident that transporting the teams from hotel to Stadium won’t be much of an issue for his team. “We have special arrangements for the teams. Green Corridor is not the right term but we ensure that we take the team on such a route that they reach their venue as soon as possible. Our aim is that they should spend less time on the road because security is also important. At the same time, we don’t want any common man to suffer because of this, we don’t want to block any route. There is a small technique like we create a specific route, we clear lanes in advance. We monitor our signal system in which there are fewer red lights on the route the team is traveling and there is a smooth flow of traffic,” Sinha said.

The Police are in touch with a nodal officer for each team, who have shared their practice and match schedule 15 days in advance. The Traffic Police plans out things accordingly. Each team will be piloted by the Traffic Police team along with Mumbai Police whenever they travel for IPL games or practice sessions.

“There is a specific dedicated team which will be with all IPL teams whenever they are on road, they coordinate with them and movement is done accordingly. Mumbai Traffic Police will look into their jurisdiction, if the team is traveling in another jurisdiction, our team will coordinate and hand it over to them. Our team is working behind the scenes working on it efficiently,” Sinha added.

The government has allowed a minimum of 25 per cent of the crowd, Shah said, and the BCCI is ready for the challenge for the next two months. However, with play-offs, the BCCI will consider another city, Shah confirmed.

34.1 km Trident to DY Patil
CSK’s long journey

On the way: Kala Ghoda; Eastern freeway; iMax dome; peak traffic at all times of the Eastern suburbs; sudden wide expanse of Vashi Bridge

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35 km Powai to Wankhede
Punjab Kings’ long journey

On the way: Go in & out of green oases to smoky traffic with Godrej Colony and Vikhroli to hit eastern Freeway. Hit Flora Fountain before you get peeks into the Azad Maidan and Oval & Cross maidaan where best of Mumbai’s cricketers are sculpted

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18 km Taj Lands End to Wankhede
RCB’s long journey

On the way: Bandra-Worli sea link & giant murals on building faces; Glorious Haji Ali mosque; Summer blossoms on Peddar Road; Art Deco architecture of Marine Drive

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25 km ITC Maratha to Wankhede
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s long journey

On the way: Mumbai’s central business hub off Ambedkar Road with ITC’s red and white chevron beacon spire; leafy Byculla’s syncretic roof tops; JJ flyover & bustle of Mohammad Ali Road