Looking for home, Royals find a house

Radio cabs are relatively new to India, but they are rapidly denting the monopoly of autorickshaws. More than the bigger cities, where it is not always possible to meet the demand for privately hired transport, the autorickshaws have suffered in slightly smaller cities such as Ahmedabad, where the demand is not huge.

Autorickshaw drivers are retaliating in their own turf, the walled city of Ahmedabad, the intricate streets and crowded bazaars of which are barely navigable in vehicles bigger than autorickshaws. Should a radio taxi enter this terrain, it has hell to pay. Systematically the autorickshaws block the way of the taxis, delaying them, frustrating the passengers. They even drive perilously close to the cars, never missing an opportunity to make "accidental" contact and dent the cars back

Amdavadis sure know how to protect their home turf. Yet it is simplistic to think the city is Rajasthan Royals' home turf just because they have been assigned the city and just because banners have been put all over the city. No matter how many jokes you might want to make about a city with prohibition suiting a team of good boys - Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane et al - more, Ahmedabad is far from being a home venue for Royals.

During Royals' first match the complimentary blue flags left on the seats were only used to clean the seats. After people had themselves soiled them by standing on them to attract the attention of the roving camera. By all logical accounts Ahmedabad had reason to support the opponents, Mumbai Indians. Mumbai is half Gujarati anyway, the team's owners are famously Gujarati. Even local boy "ae aapno Partheevv" [Patel] plays for Mumbai. The most noticeable chant on the night was "Ma-linga, Ma-linga" when the "hosts" were going through a tense middle phase of their chase. Not many stayed back to cheer Steven Smith on as he saw the chase through.

The second match laughed even more loudly at the notion that this was a home game for Royals. The opposition this time featured MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and the pride of Gujarat, Ravindra Jadeja, who has made it to Test cricket coming from small-town Gujarat and without the backing of a godfather. It actually became ridiculous when the man in charge of PA tried to manufacture some support for the hosts.

"When I say Chris, you say Morris."

"Chriiiis."

"Dhoni. Dhoni. Dhoni. Dhoni."

Now the IPL crowds usually are herd-like, responding to Ravi Shastri's gratuitous "kem cho"s and "vanakkam"s, but even they haven't warmed to the home team they have been assigned. Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders enjoy vehement home support, which they have claimed helps them grow a leg when they are down. Rajasthan Royals, the only other stable and consistent team in the league, are playing without home support. They have won five games out of five.

Home support matters, but it can be overstated. What really matters is the conditions. Knight Riders have arguably the greatest fast bowler of all time as their bowling coach, but they play their home games on tailored sluggish pitches to help their spin attack. Super Kings slow it down too, and no other team is as accustomed to playing in that humidity. Similarly Royals built their Jaipur fortress around quick pitches that negated the biffers from outside. They worked hard at developing that mode of operation, working closely with Taposh Chatterjee, who is increasingly being regarded as the best groundsman in India.

The groundsmen in Ahmedabad want to help, but in this heat and with the inherent nature of the soil, it is just not possible to give Royals the conditions they want. Every self-respecting house in Ahmedabad has a swing, but the ball just doesn't swing in dry, 45-degree heat unless it is reverse, which is rarely seen in 20-over cricket.

Royals love grass, they want pace, bounce. They believe that in Steven Smith, Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane they have the batsmen to do well in those conditions, and in Tim Southee and Chris Morris the bowlers. They want those quick pitches especially against teams that have big hitters but not necessarily good all-round batsmen. The Kieron Pollards. The Dwayne Smiths. The Dwayne Bravos. The Corey Andersons. Basically their opponents in the first two "home" games.

They requested local authorities for quick pitches, but what they got were soft, flat surfaces. There was neither pace nor bounce. So when you bounced Pollard it didn't get big. Anderson could clear his front leg and swing. It was the tight overs bowled earlier that helped Royals prevail against Mumbai.

For the next game they asked the groundsmen to leave more grass. They believed they could show up a couple of Super Kings batsmen up on a quick pitch. When they left the ground after training on the night before the match, there was significantly more grass on the pitch than in the previous game. When they came back the next day most of it was gone. The groundsmen hadn't shaved it off. They only rolled the pitch. And once you roll it in this heat, the grass just burns off. It doesn't spring back up.

So they had another slow pitch, and also an injury to Dhawal Kulkarni. During the auction they had wizened to the possibility of slow pitches, and made sure they had spin reinforcements to go with Pravin Tambe. There is another legspinner, Pardeep Sahu, to go with left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma. They were also helped along by an ordinary MS Dhoni innings in the contest of the two unbeaten sides.

Not only no home games, Royals drew a tough schedule otherwise. Eight matches in 17 days, in a tournament whose league stage will last 40 days. The matches involved a lot of hectic travel before finally being allowed to settle down for three back-to-back games in Ahmedabad. Even last year, when they came to their home venue for the first time, for a game on May 5 after playing on May 3 in Delhi, Royals faced opponents who had been in town longer than they had.

It is difficult to call such places home, but having almost survived the first chunk of their schedule from home, Royals are slowly settling down. Their next opponents, Kings XI Punjab, are a similar side sans big Indian names, so the crowd might just call the hosts their own, although watch out should the universally loved Virender Sehwag gets going. Kings XI, like Royals, like the quick pitches so the slow nature shouldn't be that big an impediment. Royals can smell the playoffs already. The radio cabs might be charging in with all their stars and overseas money, but the autorickshaws still know the way around the confusing walled city better.