The teams for the first of two IPL-6 game here — hosts the Kings XI Punjab and the Delhi Daredevils — will only land at the nearby Ghaggal Airport on Wednesday, but cricket fever is already making itself felt in this picturesque town snuggled in the lap of the Dhauladhars.
Cricket, politics and controversy tend to go hand in hand here in this corner of the Himalayan state. Things are no different this time round too, and they invariably revolve around local tussles and issues more than matters of wider import.
With power in the state government having changed hands since the last time the IPL circus was in town, reports suggest the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association may find the going rough now, particularly since its president, Anurag Thakur, is a BJP member of Parliament and son of former chief minister P.K. Dhumal.
Recently-elected CM Virbhadra Singh on coming to power had said the HPCA could no longer expect free police coverage of IPL games, as in the past.
“Earlier it might have been so, but that’s not the case now,” the chief minister is reported to have said.
“The government would charge for providing security to any event which is commercial,” he had added.
HPCA press secretary Mohit Sood, however, said it was no longer an issue. “Yes, there was some talk about this earlier, but it has all been sorted out. We have heard nothing on these lines from the administration and have been working with them for our two games as we have in the past,” he told this paper.
Also, with the second match, on Saturday, slated to see Sachin Tendulkar make his first appearance in a live game at the HPCA Stadium, excitement began climbing almost as soon as the schedule for IPL-6 was announced months ago,
“Most of the tickets for the second IPL match here have been sold out well in advance. Only a handful of tickets, that too in the expensive blocks, are available,” Sood was quoted as saying.
Over 21,000 people are expected to descend on this otherwise quiet hill town for Saturday’s game against MI, and with just over a thousand rooms available here, it is boom time for the hotel trade.