A heavy posse of security forces, including Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and multiple units of Chhattisgarh Police, had to ‘jostle and hustle’ to keep a sea of frenzied cricket enthusiasts and local mediapersons at bay from cricketing stars of India and New Zealand, which arrived one hour late to the state capital here on Thursday evening.

The Spicejet flight, from which the players of both the teams arrived here at Swami Vivekananda Airport (SVA), reportedly took off late from Hyderabad and it landed here almost an hour later. However, none of the concerned officials, whether from Airports Authority of India (AAI), the local match organisers Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh (CSCS) and District Administration, had time to explain the reasons to anyone, particularly the media since it was melee-like situation at the arriving terminal of SVA here.

Yet, the official sources clarified that the scheduled departure of the Spicejet flight, from Hyderabad to Raipur was 4:15 pm and it should have landed at 5:15 pm here. But, the flight went airborne from Hyderabad at 4:45 pm and then there was a cascading effect on the scheduled timeline and hence, the entire last minute hodgepodge.

The first Indian cricketing start to walk past out the arrival terminal at around 6:30 pm was all-rounder Hardik Pandya as he was welcomed by a sea of cheerful cricket fans having jam-packed at all access points up to the temporary barricade installed by the local police, as they screamed loud to welcome him to Raipur. The next two players to walk out from the terminal were medium pacer Mohammed Shami and Captain Rohit Sharma, followed by coach and former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid, who stole the entire show. Hereafter, batsman Surya Kumar Yadav, bowler Rajat Patidar, all rounder Washington Sunder, record breaking double centurion opener Shubhman Gill, opener and wicker keeper Ishan Kisan and finally Kuldeep Yadav. In span of half-an-hour, the entire Indian cricket squad escorted under thick security cover of local senior police officials, made their way into a luxury bus which drove them straight to Courtyard By The Marriot, situated on Raipur-Mahasamund National Highway, near Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (IGKV). In between, the players of the visiting team of New Zealand also came out of the arrival terminal at around 7:04 pm, but the home crowd welcomed them with a high-pitched slogan of ‘Jitega Bhai Jitega India Jitega’.

Though the visiting New Zealand players didn’t respond much to high-on-adrenalin welcome notes by the local crowd since the Hindi language was obviously unfamiliar to them, they just embarked on their bus and also left for the same lodging-boarding point where the Indian squad has also been accommodated. The die-hard fans of gentleman’s game were so desperate to click and record magic moments of their favourite cricketing gods, but they had to battle hard to get a proper and stable place to capture their dream shots. While some were elated as they succeeded, many complained of police mismanagement that left them stranded far behind to reach the terminal as there was utter chaos all around the peripheral area of the airport. Meanwhile, amid heavy security paraphernalia, including pilot and escort vehicles of State Police, all the cricketing stars of India and New Zealand arrived safe at the hotel sans any hiccups. However, the fans kept following their stars right from the airport to the hotel, before being turned away by the security personnel at far distances. All the surrounding area near the hotel has been turned into a police camp with scores of security personnel monitoring each and every movement making entry and exit from here. As per the training schedule, New Zealand team will train at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium, Raipur from 1 pm to 4 pm. On the other hand the Indian team will have optional training session from 5 pm to 8 pm.