Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
DHONI, KOHLI WILL NOT BE MISSED, COURTESY TSHIRTS
Though Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni won’t be in action in Lucknow’s T20 match between India and West Indies on Tuesday, audiences are not going to miss them.
Courtesy the company that prints T-shirts for cricket fans across country, the two swashbuckling batsmen will be present in the pavilion virtually on almost every seat.
“We have got printed over 20,000 T-shirts carrying names of Kohli and Dhoni. Priced between Rs 100 to Rs 150, these T-shirts would allow the fans to show their affection to two legends of the Team India even when standin captain Rohit Sharma and opener Shikhar Dhawan are hitting boundaries,” said a staff of the printing company.
While Kohli has been rested for the three-match T20 series, Dhoni hasn’t been considered ‘suitable’ for the shortest version of the game by the selectors.
Such T-shirts would be on sale by vendors on the matchday outside the Ekana International Cricket Stadium.
“I love Kohli and even he isn’t here in the game, I will sport his T-shirt and show my love and affection to him,” young fan Humaira Khan says.
“I watch cricket on TV only to see my favourite man Kohli in action and this would be for the first time when I would be watching the Team India in action before my own eyes here in home city,” added Humaira, who bought two tickets worth Rs 1500 each.
While Humaira is Kohli fan, many others still love Dhoni.
“For last many years, I haven’t watched a T20 game without Dhoni and I have lost all my interest in the game since I came to know about Dhoni’s dropping for the T20 series. But since the game is happening in my city and that too for the first time, I will watch the match while sporting MDS T-shirt,” an avid fan Vishal Tandon said.
FACE COLOURING!
Fans will also have the opportunity to get their faces painted with Indian tri-color as a group of face painters even from neighboring cities, especially Kanpur, have been invited for this purpose. “It’s a routine in Kanpur, which owns the Only Test centre in the state in the form of the Green Park Stadium, but here this is firstever international match,” said one Siyaram, who too would be busy in painting the faces at the fans entrance at the stadium on the match-day.
“We have a team of around 50 people for this job as managing such a huge crowd (approximately 50,000) won’t be an easy job. Painting a flag on your face will cost only Rs 25,” he said, adding, “If you want to paint your face fully that too in a designer manner, you will have to pay Rs 100,” he said.
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY!
However, the match would be a money-making business or business opportunities for the small-small vendors of eatables near the stadium.
Though the road side dhaba, chaiwalas, and paan walas have been cleared off in view of the traffic and security, the shops of eatables at the Sultanpur road are excited and looking for good money on the Diwali eve.
“Samosa, khasta, sweets, pakories etc., would be made in a good quantity that day as crowd would be enjoying the eatables before and after the match,” said one Dularey of Yadav Sweets. “Even we have made arrangements for packed biryani and kebabs, paratha too for the fans on a separate stall here.”