"Every April and May, the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, India, fills with devotees of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team Chennai Super Kings, all wearing their trademark banana yellow. And every time one man-Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the team's captain and a grizzled, canny veteran-jogs out to bat, arms stretching and flexing, bat held like a cudgel, the crowd seems to melt into one hoarse, fevered, perspiring organism."
"Test cricket still exists and in fact is more exciting now than it has been for a long time: fewer draws, more powerful, hectic cricket, and tight results. The venues can be varied and exhilarating: English grounds with turf as immaculate as a billiards table; the stadium in Dharamshala, in northern India, cupped in the lap of the Himalayas; the stadium in Galle, in southern Sri Lanka, cheek by jowl with an old Portuguese fort and the waves of the Indian Ocean."
Every April and May the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai fills with devotees of the Chennai Super Kings wearing banana yellow, who erupt when Mahendra Singh Dhoni comes out to bat. Dhoni's arrival triggers roaring cheers, paper-cone trumpets, and loud film music that dominate the atmosphere. The IPL delivers high-octane, frenzied spectacle and intense fan culture. Test cricket endures as a five-day format with colonial-era customs like white clothing and tea breaks, offering novelistic narratives and varied, picturesque venues from England to Dharamshala and Galle. Sports tourism increasingly connects travelers to India through IPL matches.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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