The lights were off. The doors were locked. Media was barred entry into Mithali Raj’s residence on Sunday night during the women’s World Cup cricket championship final on Sunday night.
And the ambience never really changed at the end of the final as India ended up a loser in a nail-biting finish at Lords.
It is said the Indian captain’s parents, who stay on the Dairy Farm stretch at Alwal in Secunderabad, were sentimental right through the day not to entertain any media requests and had pleaded with them to wait till Monday for any interaction.
But, it turned out to be an anti-climax. Not just for the millions of fans who were glued to the TV sets in anticipation of a historic Indian win, but also to the hordes of media personnel who trooped into the bylane with the hope of at least getting a glimpse of Mithali’s famiily members. All that they got was a polite request from one of them to wait till Monday.
At one stage when India looked like inching towards a win, a group of fans suddenly came on to the street holding the Indian tri-colour amid beating of drums. But it turned out to be a bit too early as the script changed as fast as lightning in the final moments far away in England.
Quickly, with wickets tumbling in a heap in the dying minutes of the contest, their focus shifted to the mobiles for the updates and with each wicket falling, their shoulders too dropped. Perhaps, symbolic of the mood of the cricket fans across the country who had high hopes of history being created again.
