The feeling changes somewhat, however, when the teams finally troop in. Rahul Dravid, the captain of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, manages to make his way past half-a-dozen dancers and gets a look at the track. But his team can’t practice in the stadium — the rehearsals for the opening ceremony are more important.

“We were barred from using the ground today,” Dravid says later with a smile. “The IPL is a new concept, and these things need to be done to draw in the crowds.”

It’s pretty clear that the buzz in Bangalore is more about the gimmicks associated with the event than about cricket.

The home team’s first match is against the Kolkata Knight Riders — Dravid vs Sourav Ganguly, Vijay Mallya vs Shah Rukh Khan. Add a dash of Rani Mukherjee and Shankar Mahadevan to the mix, and the management gurus of the IPL should have little trouble filling the stadium for this one.

But to market instant cricket that lacks a dash of righteous jingoism cannot be easy. No matter how many song-and-dance routines you incorporate, publicity stunts are only good for the first week — after that the IPL will have to be about team loyalty, and the quality of cricket. And that could be a problem.

The disconnect between the team and local cricket fans is clear at the venue. Where there used to be hundreds watching practice on the eve of an international match, or lingering outside the ground just to get a glimpse of the team bus, there is hardly anyone.

... contd.