Wankhede gears up to usher in New Year derby

Gudi Padwa, the festival in the state of Maharashtra, is the celebration of a new beginning. Typically, houses are layered with floral decorations, elaborate feasts are laid out and the gudi - usually a bright green or yellow cloth adorning a stick tied with mango and neem leaves, and an inverted silver or copper pot placed over it - is hoisted outside the house. It is considered auspicious to start new ventures on this day. Rising Pune Supergiants, a new Maharashtra-based team in this IPL, were at the Wankhede Stadium on Gudi Padwa day, trying to get their rehearsals right ahead of their first big act on Saturday.

On the surface, they look like a near-dream team carved out of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals' finest with a motley support cast. But the flavour is more distinctively Chennai than Jaipur and not only because of seven CSK imports - captain MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Faf du Plessis, Irfan Pathan, Ishwar Pandey, B Aparajith and Ankush Bains. With Stephen Fleming taking on coaching responsibilities, the control room must seem familiar to Dhoni again.

Familiar also was the sight of Dhoni - although in a multi-coloured jersey now - belting out massive leg-side hits, in addition to a wristy scoop-slog that hasn't been seen often enough. In the adjacent net was Australia captain Steven Smith, who responded to some quick throwdowns with diligent drives and pushes along the ground. He even bowled his legbreaks for a while later. Near the players' pavilion, there was Ajinkya Rahane doing a TV interview, while Kevin Pietersen was by himself waiting for his turn to bat. He, too, would go on to do an interview in a bit.

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was among the last to bat, and he instructed the coaching staff to test his leg-side play. He was sizing up the smaller side of the ground, sending slog-sweeps and hoicks in that direction. Then there was Akash Ambani, part of the ownership group of their opponents Mumbai Indians, who was seen chatting with Dhoni first and then Rahane, while Smith and Mitchell Marsh were obliging the ball-boys' selfie requests. The atmosphere seemed a little like an orientation programme on the first day of college. Ashwin felt there wouldn't be too many teething troubles, despite the fact that they were playing for a new franchise.

"It's not difficult, definitely," he said. "I am looking forward to it because I wanted to come and play for a new team as well. In this particular franchise, everything is new for them as well." He emphasised the need for the franchise to ride the ebbs and flows of the IPL with equanimity. "Going into IPL for the first time, they need to adjust to the logistics, they need to understand the team dynamics because you will lose a few games. That's the nature of this tournament.

"Losing some close games also, you have to live with it and not try and press forward. The franchise and players working together is going to be the biggest challenge and is going to be the best thing about this IPL."

Mumbai Indians were the relatively noisier boys at practice. Understandable, given that their core group has been around for a while. But, here too was a newboy. Jos Buttler had been a familiar face at the Wankhede during the World T20, but this is a different gig altogether.

He caught a lot of balls with the wicketkeeping gloves - a series of quick, low ones followed by skiers - before batting in the nets. It was well past noon by the time Buttler had finished. As he trudged back, soaked in sweat, fielding coach Jonty Rhodes smiled at him and asked: "Tired already?" Buttler smiled in acknowledgement. He merely watched his captain Rohit Sharma share a joke in Hindi with Jasprit Bumrah. It was all going over his head. This was new territory.

Wankhede Stadium, which has been splashed with the blue of Mumbai Indians, was gearing up for fresher stuff too. The dry runs for the new digital advertisement panels and some psychedelic lighting were in full swing until late in the night. But that is not the only unknown Mumbai are walking into ahead of the Maharashtra derby. Over the last few days, the Bombay High Court has heard arguments that the IPL shouldn't be held in the drought-hit state. It is that unknown that venues like the Wankhede and the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune will hold their breath over. Before they get there though, there is a new season to usher in.