ODI World Cup 2023 Diary: Blue tinge in yellow land, snow-capped Dhauladhar vary and Babar Azam’s tremendous fan

The ICC World Cup, cricket’s showpiece occasion, rolls into India just like the faint mist that rises from a steaming cup of tea up within the hills. The lack of hype is actual, not like the championship’s earlier trysts in India throughout 1987, 1996 and 2011. The Asian Games in China could have drawn consideration and rightly so, due to India’s plus-100 efficiency however the chilly shoulder to the World Cup does grate till the caravan rolls into Chennai for a Sunday face-off between the Men in Blue and Australia.

The tussle on October 8 will get the prelude proper because the roads across the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium is gridlocked. Fans tumble out of automobiles, metro and suburban trains. Clad in blue, there’s a spring of their step regardless of Chennai’s warmth and humidity. Placards are held up and most are patriotic, expressing needs for Rohit Sharma’s males. But one catches the attention: “Missing Captain Cool M.S. Dhoni in hot Chennai!” The former India captain and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) legend is a favorite son of this southern metro.

His sense of assuredness is exuded by the nationwide staff as soon as the match begins. India almost repeats the CSK template, utilizing spin as a strangling mechanism and middle-order maestros because the shepherds of the chase. It helps that there’s a native join as Ravindra Jadeja together with his CSK loyalty, prises out three wickets and Australia is bundled out for 199. The Indian pursuit commences with the death-rattle as Rohit, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer depart with out opening their accounts. The silence within the stands is deafening, you can really hear the waves of the close by Bay of Bengal and the mooing of a cow in Triplicane!

But like CSK doing the Houdini, India does a stirring comeback as Virat Kohli (85) and Okay.L. Rahul (97 n.o.) sew a 165-run fourth-wicket partnership. The Men in Blue win by six wickets, the World Cup positive factors its much-needed booster shot and the followers discover their voice. And when the evening wanes, it’s time to sing that outdated Tamil movie music: “ Madras nalla Madras (Chennai, the good old Chennai).”

The Jaddu humour

In the post-match press convention, a technical query is aired in Hindi, Jadeja replies in Hindi too and says: “I am not answering this question at all. You will write this in English and the other chaps sitting here will read that and pass those secrets to their teams, no way would I want that.” The packed media corridor, except these not clued into Hindi, bursts out laughing. The journalist, who raised the query will get teased, and he takes it in good humour.

Flying into the City of Djinns

The easy-going tribe of cricket writers that includes the veterans and the rookies soar into the skies. It is time to fly into Delhi as India is scheduled to play Afghanistan (on October 11). In the flight, the conversations linger round cricket, primarily among the many travelling press pack. Delhi, with its historical past, huge expanse, tainted air and talent to encourage good writing be it Khushwant Singh’s Delhi or William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns, is a welcoming presence. The Arun Jaitley Stadium, Kotla for the outdated devoted, is buzzing with exercise. Media personnel, a posse of security-men checking baggage and providing that chilly stare and the strict phrase, and followers wanting to catch a glimpse of the Indian staff, all add to the frenzy.

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi stays optimistic about his staff throwing up a shock punch, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour lapses into the outdated jargon of ‘following the process’, and out on the sphere, gamers limber up below lights whereas a haze lingers and some within the press field really feel that their throats are getting clammy. The stubble-burning within the northern States does go away its darkish after-effects within the capital whereas the cricket bandwagon rolls on with miles to go earlier than the ultimate closure at Ahmedabad on November 19.

The diary at Dharamsala

The taxi driver on the Kangra airport, simply outdoors Dharamsala, introduces himself in such a heavy accent that the diary doesn’t fairly make out his identify at first. “World Cup, World Cup,” he gives by the use of clarification as he spots the diary’s accred card, maybe assuming the diary doesn’t communicate the native vernacular.

The diary is already late for the Bangladesh press convention, having flown in from Ahmedabad by way of Delhi, primarily as a result of there are not any direct business flights between the capital metropolis of Gujarat and Dharamsala.

Kangra airport is simply too small to deal with massive plane and may solely be served by smaller turboprops. IndiGo deploys its ATR plane to this airport, which is compact but noisy, and, properly, very cramped. The diary, at 5 ft 10 inch, certain needs he had extra space to stretch his drained limbs. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Back to the cab journey, and we’re hurtling in the direction of Dharamsala at breakneck pace. The driver is a tall, bald man, about 40, with large palms that grip the steering wheel. He drives into oncoming site visitors with the self-discipline and management of a person who may navigate these serpentine bends in his sleep.

The diary reaches his lodge in 25 minutes after surviving a lurching and thumping automotive journey, a journey that ought to’ve taken 40 minutes, in keeping with Google Maps. But what does Google know, eh?

The diary thanks the driving force, then his stars and checks into his room. It’s a quaint one with a cosiness that enhances the soothing climes of Dharamsala. The balcony door opens to the snow-capped Dhauladhar mountains that rise out of the verdant Kangra valley.

The view is fascinating sufficient for the diary to shortly clean up and head for the HPCA Stadium (above), the venue for 5 ODI World Cup video games in India this yr. The floor is round three kilometres away from the place the diary is put up, so he hitches a journey on an outdated bike that’s apparently headed in the direction of the bottom. We drive downhill, zooming previous outdated buses whereas labouring up the Himalayan foothills.

During the quick however refreshing journey, Jeetender advises the diary to go to McLeod Ganj—as soon as a preferred summer time retreat for British colonists working in Delhi. The hill station, in any other case referred to as Upper Dharamsala, is seemingly half an hour by cab and so much “livelier” than Dharamsala.

As the diary wonders if he’ll have time to go there given his tight schedule, he will get the primary sighting of the HPCA Stadium. At an elevation of 4,110 toes, it’s the highest worldwide floor on the earth. The air is crisper, and vultures are hovering within the backdrop of this mesmerising venue.

The diary spends an hour, surveying the gorgeous floor, uploads a customary ‘In Dharamsala for cricket’ put up on Instagram after which heads again to the lodge.

By now the diary is ravenous and spots a street-side stall that sells momos. “That’s what the doctor ordered (cue Ravi Shastri)”, the diary thinks to himself as he speedily walks in the direction of the outlet.

But a lot to the frustration, the stall solely sells veg momos. The diary curbs his non-veg cravings in the interim and devours them, all of the whereas hoping that their hen variants had magically proven up on his plate!

By now the solar has began setting behind the gargantuan mountains, and the diary’s full as properly. Never thoughts the absence of hen momos — the veg momos and a spellbinding sundown had been sufficient to finish the day on a contented be aware.

Alaysha — the tremendous fan

Teenage obsession is knit tightly with emotional attachments, stitched with innumerable recollections. The ardour runs deep, and the inexplicable love for up to date heroes stands the take a look at of time.

For 14-year-old Alaysha, her love for Babar Azam has introduced her to Hyderabad from Bhopal to observe the Pakistan captain within the flesh. The obsession is such that she claims to be Babar’s ‘biggest fan’ and has come together with her household to observe Pakistan play in opposition to the Netherlands in its World Cup opener.

“I just love Babar Azam, and whether he scores a century or zero, it doesn’t matter to me. It’s just that I am a huge fan of cricket, and Babar is my favourite player,” Alaysha tells Sportstar . Her father, Arif Beig, can also be a cricket fanatic, and Alaysha is on the town together with her household.

“My abba (father) used to watch cricket a lot and still does, and it was in 2020 that I started watching Babar when he was playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). He played very well in the whole PSL, and I just got hooked,” she says.

Alaysha’s telephone sports activities an image of the Pakistan captain on the again cowl, and such is the adulation that she has cut-outs of him and a devoted Instagram fan web page.

“It is the first time that Babar is coming to India, and we have planned this trip since the ICC announced the schedule. We wanted to stay at the hotel where the Pakistan team is staying, but the prices were very high, ranging close to Rs 1.5 lakhs, so we decided to stay at another hotel. I have an Instagram fan page where I keep tagging the Pakistan team,” the 14-year-old stated.

Her idol worship did bear fruit as she managed to attract the eye of Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq.

“Imam-ul-Haq and Hasan Ali have seen and liked my stories, and Imam usually sees my stories, and he is very kind-hearted. I have skipped my exams to watch Babar play, and I am looking forward to meeting him,” Alaysha stated.

To maintain a ardour requires help, and Alaysha thanked her mother and father for supporting her dream of watching Babar dwell in motion.

“My parents have sacrificed a lot, and it means a lot for me to watch Babar and the Pakistan team play live. It’s a dream come true,” she says.

Meanwhile, the lens of the host broadcaster zooms in in the direction of Alaysha and her sister, together with her elder brother forming a protecting ring and her little sister waving the Pakistan flag. “I love the Indian team, and Shubman Gill is my favourite. Abba ko Rahul Dravid bohot pasand hai (My father likes Rahul Dravid a lot), but I like Kohli… I want to be an entrepreneur and be involved in the game. That’s my ambition. For now, my dream of watching Babar live has come true, but it will be great if I can just meet him once,” Alaysha says.