By IANS,
Bangalore : The Indian Premier League (IPL) is big business for many, but at its inaugural tie here Friday evening there was little business for those selling national flags and those painting the tricolour on cheeks and foreheads of fans.
For several years now these petty businessmen and women have been a regular feature around the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium whenever Team India take on other national teams.
The international mix of the eight teams taking part in the IPL Twenty20 tournament has shut their small business out even though the first match drew capacity crowd.
Some bold ones among these small businessmen did haunt the gates shouting ‘water colour, water colour’ but there were not many takers, though some did sport RC, for the local team Bangalore Royal Challengers, on their cheeks.
The stand next to the media box had a small but vociferous group of fans of Kolkata Knight Riders. Every time a Knight Rider batsman hit a four or six or just a nice shot, they would shout “Shah Rukh Khan”, the Bollywood superstar who owns the team.
At times they were out-shouted by others in the stand. But both the groups took the cheering and shouting matches in sporting spirit.