Perfect outing for cricket fans

Overcast weather conditions, not-too-expensive eatables and a good show by India made their day. Even the weather God was kind for most of the day as overcast conditions pleased all those lesser mortals in the Eastern and the Western stands with no roofing.

Indian captain Virat Kohli celebrates by giving a flying kiss after scoring a fifty during the third One day international match between Sri Lanka and India at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. At right is actor and Virat Kohli's friend Anushka Sharma. Photo: K.R. Deepak

It was the script the way the fans and officials of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) should have looked for. A big win for India, double delight for the HCA as its president, Arshad Ayub, will be the manager of the Indian team to tour Australia next month and then the hometown ‘hero’ Ambati Rayudu’s dismissal of the well-set Tillakaratne Dilshan, providing the biggest cheer of all.

The Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who was introduced to the Indian and the Sri Lankan teams before the match, spent quite a long time at the venue. He was apparently very sympathetic towards the HCA request to convert the lease agreement of the site into a complete ownership of the Association. “We were told a senior official will be asked to look into this,” says a HCA EC member.

Even the weather God was kind for most of the day as overcast conditions pleased all those lesser mortals in the Eastern and the Western stands with no roofing.

There was a clash of lung power too with the popular Sachin Tendulkar fan, Sudhir Kumar, and M.S. Dhoni’s fan too sporting the tri-colour paint on his face with the India captain’s famous jersey No. 7 on, waving the tri-colour flags passionately. Sudhir says he is delighted to be mentioned in Sachin’s autobiography ‘Play It my Way’.

It was good to see the naming of enclosures in the stands after some of the finest players from Hyderabad which included the likes of ‘Tiger’ Pataudi, Abbas Ali Baig, P. Krishnamurthy, Syed Abid Ali, M.V. Narasimha Rao (more popular as Bobjee who was here to watch the match along with another 1971 Indian tour member Govindraj), Kenny Jayanthilal, Mohammad Hussain and Gul Mohammed.

For a change, the fans, who at some gates faced embarrassing moments when they were forced to throw away their caps by cops, were in for a pleasant surprise with the eatables not too expensive at the Pavilion End.

Mild tension at stadium

Mild tension prevailed outside the Uppal Stadium during the match when some people clashed alleging sale of tickets in black at the venue. The police quickly intervened and took some persons into custody.