Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Bhangra and banter as Indian players train under fan gaze at MCG
MELBOURNE: T-1 for India-Pakistan and bhangra has taken over the MCG just after noon. The high stands and vacant ramparts make the partying all the more rhythmic as blue and green shirts pour out of trams, cars and trains—from as far as 100km away—to watch their team practice and join in the merriment.
This is the best chance to catch a glimpse of their heroes up close. MCG’s outdoor training area is perfect too—four pitches surrounded by a high-walled area milling with hundreds of fans—for barracking as well as serenading.
First up, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul took turns at batting in adjacent nets as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal started bowling, prompting fans to whip out their phones and shoot videos. Some even started streaming the nets session. On asking a woman, she sheepishly admitted to livestreaming the video to her 70-year-old mother, a ‘die-hard’ Kohli fan. Not just Indians and Pakistanis, a group of Bangladeshis too had driven from Sydney just to watch India train. One didn’t have to ask who they had come for. ‘Kohli, Kohli, Kohli, Kohli,’ they screamed in unison.
The mood was festive, chants were being traded, some innovative, some lifted from popular Barmy Army songs, and some too crass to be put down in writing. No longer serial losers in World Cup clashes—thanks to their 10-wicket win last year— Pakistanis were thoroughly upbeat about their chances.
It was also at the MCG that Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup, which gave them extra fillip. But Indian fans weren’t letting up. Kohli got a ‘superman’ singalong chant but the best lines were reserved for Rishabh Pant—‘He babysits your kids, he hits you for a six, he is Rishabh Pant’. As more and more fans began grooving to the bhangra beats, all the ingredients of the cheerleading party started to come together. The most energetic ones were almost keeling over the railing, trying to get as close as possible to the action, commenting on every shot, every miss and every ‘dismissal’.
Pandya delivering a peach to old friend Rahul had hundreds swooning ‘Oy hoye’. A collective ‘ooooh’ when Kohli edged Kumar could be heard from the Rod Laver Arena tram station. Kohli gave it back soon though, hitting Kumar over his head for what would have been a six in any ground in the world. The banter soon went up a level as some Pakistanis joined in. Kohli was getting into his groove when someone was heard saying “Babar jaisa straight drive maar”. It’s possible Kohli heard that for he wasn’t holding back. With every shot, the cheer got wilder.
The security was invisible, but very much on the prowl. You didn’t have to think twice before trying to get close to the nets, or even stick out an autograph book for Kohli. But once the crowd started swelling, the cops quickly swung into action taping off most of the viewing areas. By then, the crowd had celebrated riotously, vuvuzelas and air horns adding to the cacophony. One fan even used a megaphone, pleading with Kohli to just wave at him once.
The final ingredient was the Pakistanis, trickling in to attend their team’s evening training session. For a while they were outnumbered, but not outvoiced. Like when a contingent of Indians were chanting ‘Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega ’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’, a small group of Pakistanis quietly slipped in, waited for them to take a breaker before breaking into “Pakistan zindabad”. The most common chant though was the provoking Mauka, mauka.