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Saturday, April 20, 2024

what happens when Thala walks into bat !!

"Lucknow" is the anglicised spelling of the local pronunciation "Lakhnau". According to one legend, the city is named after Lakshmana, another  hero of the Hindu ithihasa Ramayana. The legend states that Lakshmana had a palace or an estate in the area, which was called Lakshmanapuri, the    settlement came to be known as Lakhanpur (or Lachhmanpur) by the 11th century, and later, Lucknow. 

Sound is measured in decibels (dB). A whisper is about 30 dB, normal conversation is about 60 dB, and a motorcycle engine running is about 95 dB. Noise above 70 dB over a prolonged period of time may start to damage your hearing.  What would 95dB mean and can you imagine where you would heat that ?  

On 6th Nov 2018, the stadium hosted its first international match, a Twenty20 International (T20I) between India and the West Indies, becoming the 52nd stadium in India to host an international cricket match.  Yesterday Chennai Super Kings played Lucknow Super Giants at Ekana Cricket Stadium [Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (BRSABV) Ekana Cricket Stadium] having a seating capacity of 50,000, and is the fifth largest international cricket stadium of India.  

Team CSK is not known for chopping or changing its order or approach much.  Yet this time Sir Jadeja walked in at no. 4 surprising many though the situation was bad.  Put in, CSK  lost Rachin Ravindra for a golden duck and, three overs later, Ruturaj Gaikwad edged a Yash Thakur outswinger behind. Losing two wickets in the powerplay, perhaps, made CSK save Shivam Dube for later and send  Jadeja who played responsibly meaning quite slowly.  Ajinkya Rahane,  made efforts to keep the score card ticking with a regular flow of boundaries.  Sooner  LSG bowlers stifled Moeen Ali and Jadeja - they went 34 balls without a boundary. Jadeja broke the drought in the 16th over, and reached his fifty in the 17th with a six off Mohsin Khan that Deepak Hooda should have taken but only managed to tip over.

 


Moeen set things up for Dhoni with three sixes in a row off Bishnoi in the 18th over, and Dhoni came out to a rapturous reception when Moeen holed out attempting a fourth six off the same bowler.  After a single off his first ball, Dhoni was facing two inexperienced bowlers in Mohsin and Thakur. He first bashed Mohsin to the extra-cover boundary for a one-bounce four, and followed it with the most un-Dhoniesque six you'll see: walking across because Mohsin had been bowling them wide outside off and lapping him over the keeper's head. It was a 14-run over that included three wides.

 


The fans - almost entirely yellow - were having the time of their lives. Dhoni got the strike in the last over, he clobbered a six over cow corner. Thakur attempted wide yorkers that resulted in two more fours off the last three balls and Dhoni finished on 28 off just nine balls that helped CSK smash 63 in last four overs. Clearly the score was not enough though. Throughout the current IPL season, Dhoni has been in formidable form, maintaining an undefeated streak and amassing 87 runs with an extraordinary strike rate exceeding 255. His sustained excellence and ability to control the game’s rhythm affirm his status as one of cricket’s all-time greats. 

The Ekana Stadium crowd in Lucknow was served the perfect buffet on Friday night: spectacular MS Dhoni fireworks that powered Chennai Super Kings to 176 for 6 and then the home team Lucknow Super Giants chasing it down with KL Rahul making  82 off 53 from captain. 

The stadium was awash in a sea of CSK yellow perhaps thinking that this could well the Thala’s final appearance here.  Capturing the moment’s intensity, Sasha, the wife of cricketer Quinton de Kock, shared an Instagram story that spoke volumes. Her post featured a snapshot of her smartwatch alerting to “Loud Environment: Sound levels hit 95 decibels,” a testament to the roaring support for Dhoni that could potentially lead to temporary hearing loss after mere minutes of exposure.

 


The Noise app on Apple Watch measures the ambient sound levels in your environment using the microphone and duration of exposure. When Apple Watch detects that the decibel level has risen to a point where hearing could be affected, it notifies the users with a tap on the wrist !!

 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
20.4.2024 

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