Clash of Royals & Kings draws fans in droves (Sidelights)

Bangalore, May 9 (IANS) The clash between hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL tournament drew frenzied fans to the Chinnaswamy stadium here by droves late Friday.

With Kings' Glenn Maxwell emerging as the most dangerous batsman in the tournament, the die-hard fans had more than one reason to flock early to the 40,000-capacity stadium on a cloudy night to watch his explosive innings.

When RCB captain Virat Kohli asked Kings to bat first despite winning toss, the fans waited eagerly for Maxwell to do a Cuttack here where he smashed 90 runs in 38 balls with eight sixes and six fours against Chennai Super Kings Wednesday.

Though the Aussie batter set the stands on fire with a breezy knock of 25 runs in 11 balls that had two sixes and two fours, his early exit robbed the fans off watching another explosive innings from the tournament's orange capped top scorer. He was caught by Mitchell Starc of Yuzvendra Chahal's bowling in the ninth over of the innings when Kings were 93 runs for two.

"Maxwell has proved to be more consistent and focused than other batters. It is a joy to watch him play at ease and he does not mind getting out even when in nineties as long as his team wins," quipped K. Narayanan, a manager in a city-based travel firm.

When cricket brought life in downtown to standstill

Growing popularity of the game's shorter version under floodlights brought normal life to a standstill in downtown, as thousands of fans flocked to the stadium, causing grid lock in the central business district.

Though vehicular movement was restricted and parking banned 1 km around the stadium, traffic cops had a tough time in preventing jams and piling up of bikes and cars at signal junctions on roads leading to the venue in the city centre.

"Being Friday evening and summer holidays, we have more tourists and visitors travelling across the city, as the weather has also been cooler this week. With one side of the stadium road blocked for vehicular traffic due to the metro rail project work, an evening match is a nightmare for us, as it is a daunting task to control the situation as fans are restless to enter stands and others anxious to get out of the spot," a senior police official lamented.