Paisa Vasool! The fate of the second one-day match between India and Australia was almost decided even before Australian openers took guard. 350+ was too good a total for a very ordinary Australian batting line-up. This is a match Ponting would quickly like to forget: his bowlers gave away over 100 runs in the last 10 overs, his batsmen couldnโ€™t read innocuous spin of Ravindra Jadeja and as for fielding- Ponting dropped a Dhoni skier. As kids and I watched the match from the east stand, all through the match, I kept on wondering, are we really playing against world champions? Victory is sweet though, paisa vasool!

In October 1969, when I was 12- year- old school boy, I went to Nagpur to watch India play against New Zealand. That was the second match of the 3-match test series and the first ever test match played at the VCA stadium. I was very excited. That was pre-TV era, and I had never seen cricketers in white flannels within a hand shaking distance from the boundary line. Nawab of Pataudi, Jr. led India and Graham Dowling, Zealand. I vividly recall Ambar Royโ€“ making his debut in test cricket- cutting, pulling and straight driving Howarth for three boundaries in an over in his well-made 48. Although the pitch took turn from day 1 itself, our spinners- Prasanna, Bedi and Venkataraghavan- couldnโ€™t make the ball dance as much as Howarth could. India required 277 for a victory but could score just 109 over 55 painful overs in the second innings- adding only 44 runs between tea and stumps on day 4 and losing five wickets. On day 5, Indian inning lasted barely for 40 minutes and India lost the match by 167 runs. Each time India would lose a wicket, my heart sank and I returned home – sad and sullen.

Six years later, and now a medical student at GMC Nagpur, I visited VCA ground to see Irani trophy final between Rest of India and Bombay. Nagpur will always remember this October 1975 for Dilip Vengsarkarโ€™s spectacular inning. Little known outside Bombay then, 19-year-old Vengsarkar cared little for reputation, hitting seven sixes in his century against an attack that comprised of Madanlal, Bedi and Prasanna, an inning that catapulted him into test cricket a year later. Cricket aficionados at Nagpur promptly awarded Vengsarkar a sobriquet colonel because the effortless ease with which he was hitting sixes reminded them of Colonel CK Naidu- the Nagpur-born first captain of Indian cricket team. Vengsarkar subsequently hit three centuries at Lords, but this was an inning he would surely cherish forever.

November 2002. India vs. West Indies, second one-day match. I accompanied kids and their school friends to watch what turned out to be a boring match. Although India had made 279 – VVS Laxman missing his century by a run- and skipper Ganguli scoring 78, West Indies was always in control. Gayle, the man of the match, hit 3 sixes in his 116 ball 103 and West Indies won by 7 wickets. Over the years, West Indies saw a steady decline in the quality of its fast bowling- none of the fast bowlers who played in this match- Dillon, Drakes and Collimore- were even remotely close to the ferocious quartet West Indies was once feared for. And Gayle and Hooper apart, West Indies had no quality batsmen either. We came home, tired and disappointed.

Since long, I have been watching cricket matches at Nagpur from the east stand. Earlier- in my schooldays- I had little money, and this time- I had little choice. The tickets that offered shade and comfort were sold out. But I have no complaints. East stand is where you find genuine cricket lovers, wearing patience and passion on their sleeves -waiting for their turn to get into the stadium amidst a serpentine long queue. And as soon as the stand is filled; it applauds every shot, ceaselessly claps every milestone in an inning, ridicules every mistake, and pooh-poohs every wrong decision and almost screams its lungs out after every wicket falls. Always on its feet whenever a ball crosses the boundary rope, east stand tries to engage the long-off fielder in conversation, offering him unsolicited tips, advices, suggestions and paper aero-planes. Unlike the stiff- upper lipped gentlemen sitting in the shaded pavilions and private boxes, east stand audience is vibrant- pulsating with vigour and energy. Admittedly, you have to endure October heat even in a day-night match, the seats are not very comfortable, the impromptu songs and dances the audience breaks into can at times get on your nerves but overall east stand enriches your cricket-watch. Little wonder that when asked which stand of the Wankhede stadium he would like to be named after, Sunil Gavaskar chose east stand, politely declining to give his name to the stands which house only elite.