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Beach cricket
 Each
Sri Lankan wicket was greeted by a loud cheer. Each dive by an Indian fielder was appreciated by loud claps. Each play-n-miss by a Lankan batsman fetched the Indian bowler plenty of whistles. No, I was not at the Premadasa Stadium at Colombo, I was at the Marina beach, Chennai.
Sunday evening, all roads in CASed Chennai led to
Marina Beach for the giant screen telecast of the Indo-SL encounter for the finals of the
Asia Cup. Cricket came vigorously alive at the beach.
"I do have a set-top box at home. Also, this match is telecast by DD too. Still, I was at the beach just for the ambience. It's like watching the match in the stadium itself. The crowd's so good," says Krishna, who flocked to the beach with his 20-odd college friends.
The technology behind the big screen is innovative. Called the 'Magic Wheel', the mobile LED day-night system has LEDs panel (10 feet*13 feet) mounted an a light hydraulic commercial vehicle. Using hydraulics, the system can be raised up to five metres from the ground and it provides a 360 degree turning facility, the in-charge there said.
 The sound system was top-notch. Surrounded by speakers, one got the same feel as in a theatre. Sadly, the television telecast wasn't very attractive. The images were blurred, and the cricket action was akin to watching a movie trailer on a
mobile phone. Also, the flock of advertisements irritated the viewers.
It was nowhere as clear as your home TV; but it is a case of 'you can't have the cake and eat it too!'. Either you are at home and watch clear cricket, minus the noise, whistles, claps or you go to the Marina and enjoy the rocking crowd minus the screen clarity.
In the end, India did not
win. The telecast of the match at the beach did.
Srinivasa Ramanujam
Published on 4th Aug, 2004
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