Ball by ball, burp by burp. Many would say the next best thing to watching cricket live in the stadium is on a giant screen at a luxe address with food, drinks and friends.
Now that the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is underway, some steel city hotels have stepped up to make it memorable.
For the first time, Tata Steel sports department, in association with The Sonnet, Bistupur, is hosting a live screening at the JRD Tata Sports Complex hospitality lounge with live food counters on days Team India is in action.
Cricket lovers who work in Tata Steel and its sister concerns such as Tata Motors, TCIL, Jusco, Tata Cummins, ISWP, among others, will be able to enjoy these matches on a giant screen with a lavish spread — starters and dinner — at Rs 850 per head. The first match to be screened at the stadium is on June 5, when India plays South Africa.
An official with the sports department of Tata Steel, who chose not to come on record because he is not authorised to speak to the media, said they got the idea to screen World Cup cricket matches after “great response” from employees of Tata Steel and its sister concerns when they screened this year’s IPL final.
“This offer is only for Team India World Cup matches. Watching cricket is a great way to bond. When you add food, friends and family to the mix, the experience becomes even better,” the official said.
In Bistupur, Hotel South Park will also host Fanzone, a fun festival dedicated to cricket fans during World Cup. Here, one can munch on popular delicacies named after cricketers — Super Virat Chicken Tangri Kebab or Super Dhoni Paneer Zafrani Tikka, to name a couple. Visitors can also play a simple dice game to guess the winner or highest scorer in a match to win discount cards for a year. The South Park general manager Ravi Verma said: “Cricket is an emotion that unites the country. We wanted to pitch in.”
In Sakchi, Hotel Yashwee International, with a popular sports bar, will celebrate the cricket mania from June 15. “As ours is a sports bar, we will focus on starters that pair well with beverages. The starters will have a cricket theme. We’ll also have a cricket-based décor,” a hotel official said.