Ross Taylor’s exploits in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament impressed the Bangalore faithful so much that the reception he receives is more overwhelming than anything he receives back home in New Zealand.

A couple of days back a mother of two daughters cornered Anil Kumble for a photograph with her two little ones in the lobby of the hotel the team is staying at. “I don’t know what it is, but suddenly they want to go to cricket matches,” the lady explained. Kumble could only smile ruefully, and he did not have to articulate what was going through his mind. Two decades of international cricket, most matches won for India, most wickets in Tests and ODIs … but now he gets recognised, because he plays for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

Fellow reporters covering the tournament in different parts of India have the same feedback. It’s taken three years – and that’s hardly a long time – but fans in various parts of the countries have genuinely adopted their teams. The crux of the IPL, experts believed when the tournament began in 2008, was for fans from each city to identify strongly with their respective teams.

That’s certainly happened in the case of the Royal Challengers. Only recently, Krish Srikkanth, chairman of the national selection committee and former India cricketer, was surprised to be booed when his image was flashed on the giant screen during a match. His crime? Wearing the yellow colours of the Chennai Super Kings.

The acid test for the Bangalore crowd will come towards the end of the tournament. Their team could be fighting for a spot in the last four when the Mumbai Indians come calling. To expect them to boo Sachin Tendulkar would be silly, and if they did so it would be unedifying. Every time Tendulkar walks out to bat in India it is to a huge cheer. They should accord him that here as well. However, if they can save the biggest cheer for when he’s dismissed, club-fan identification would be complete.