Bangalore, April 17: For an occasional visitor to Bangalore, once projected as the city of green hues and the smell of flowers, the grey concrete and stench of carbon monoxide can be unsettling. The Information Technology boom has given a lot to the city — expats and fat CTCs — but robbed the intersection of MG and Brigade roads of its old-world charm. It’s in the heart of this nouveau-foreign township that cricket’s new world order will be born tomorrow.

The Chinnaswamy Stadium is a hub of activity a day before the so-called revolution. There are huge stacks of speakers lying at various corners of the outfield. At short mid-wicket, a drum-kit takes pride of place on a tailor-made platform. Deep third-man has a troupe of young performers walking on stilts. At long-on, there are Washington Redskins cheerleaders in tank tops and bridal veils practicing an expansive jig. Behind fine-leg, a stage adorned with the red-and-yellow stripes of the Bangalore Royal Challengers is lording over the proceedings.

Totally ignored, in the middle of all the excitement, is the pitch — bright green in colour — the vitality of its grassy composition visible even from 80 yards away. At any other time, on the eve of any other match, all the attention would have been on this 22-yard-strip, especially in a country obsessed with pitches. But today, no one cares. And why should they? If first impressions are anything to go by, cricket is only incidental to the IPL.

Teams arrive

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.

Difficult targets

Over the next 44 days, the IPL will have to first attract, and then hold the interest of a cricket-crazy nation. It’ll have to break the mould of national sentiments and make room for regional support that has been non-existent. Come Friday, organisers will be hoping that Kolkata’s Ishant doesn’t get too many cheers if he bowls out Bangalore’s Boucher. Both Dravid and Ganguly stress it won’t be a problem. “I strongly believe that it’s going to be about the quality of cricket, eventually,” Dravid says. “Talking to the boys in the dressing-room, I can see they’re all geared up to give their best.”

Ganguly, always more forthright, adds: “The players have their own reputations to consider, and the fact that there’s a lot of money in it if they do well. The bigger the player, the bigger the responsibility — if the team has bought Ponting for a certain price, he has to deliver. All the players understand that.”

It’s apparent that the onus to make something out of the IPL lies on the players alone. India Inc has done its bit, perhaps even overdone it. Now it’s at the mercy of its multi-million dollar acquisitions.

Key battles

Ganguly vs Dravid

Two former Indian skippers have plenty in common to prove— their style of captaincy and their competence in this format of the game. Will it be Ganguly’s aggressive style or Dravid calm self that will win the day?

Zaheer vs Ishant

Two of india’s finest fast bowlers, one highly experienced and the other a recent find. Ishant got a place in the Indian Test team after Zaheer got injured; This is the first time they will be seen on the same stage, but against each other. It will be experience versus exuberance.

White vs Hussey

Battle of the unknown quantities... Two of Australia’s finest T20 players Cameron White and David Hussey come into the IPL with big reputations. White’s leg-spin and hard-hitting abilities will serve Bangalore well, but Hussey holds the edge. His scores made him Australia’s T20 player of the year.

Watch out for

Gayle’s hoick over long-on

The West Indian opener will only land in Bangalore on the morning of the match, after a long flight. But the Kolkata management will do everything they can to get him to play the first game. If he does, watch out for the famous stand-up-and-slap down the ground.

Ganguly slice over point

It’s been his favourite scoring shot through his career... dancing down the track, shuffling outside leg to make space to slice the ball over point fielder. Effective in any form of the game.