When Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Harmanpreet Kaur arrived at the ground on the eve of their WPL-4 opening game on Thursday, the India captain had said: “DY Patil is always very special to all of us, [and] we love coming here.”

Fans too feel the same way, as was evident on Friday with all roads leading to the stadium for the MI versus Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) tournament-opener. A large crowd turned up for this match and credit for this increasing popularity must go to the Indian women’s team’s maiden ICC ODI World Cup triumph at this very ground last November. In fact, most seats in the house were filled up much before the start of the game.