Test cricket made a rosy return to Bengaluru this week, under bright lights and with no cap on spectator limits for the first time since the Coronavirus pandemic. ©BCCI
Steve Waugh described a unique phenomenon from his Test playing days in India. He spoke about feeling a sudden jolt of intensity from the crowd at the fall of the second Indian wicket, the effects of this invisible current even capable of disorienting his fielders. By the time the opposition got used to the cacophony, Sachin Tendulkar would have passed 30. At the same time, if Tendulkar did fall early, a pall of gloom would be cast around the stadium, which visiting teams relished.
For the briefest of periods on Sunday, the voice was similarly sucked out of the Chinnaswamy Stadium when Virat Kohli was undone by another grubber. But before anyone could so much as comprehend the significance of this dismissal - his Test average had slipped under 50 for the first time since 2017 - the stadium PA system gave Shreyas Iyer a booming welcome. At the over break, the DJ blasted out the latest Bollywood dance number and filled any lingering hum of the disappointed crowd. By the time Rishabh Pant reverse-swept Dhananjaya de Silva for a four the next over, chants of 'ABD... ABD' and 'RCB...RCB' had begun to ring around the stadium.
