Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja might have completed the formality of ripping apart Australia’s batting line and giving India an innings victory over the touring team on the fourth day itself, but it was little master Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag and the team’s young gun Virat Kohli who stole all the attention of the Hyderabadi fans.
The match began to an almost empty stadium with just a few hundred fans cheering the home team. Only after a couple wickets fell did the fans start to trickle into the stadium. But by the time all Australian batsmen returned to pavilion a few minutes before lunch, the number swelled to thousands of cheering, dancing fans.
Though spin duo Ashwin and Jadeja brought down the touring team, it was Sachin who remained the centre of attraction throughout.
Anxious fans ran wherever Sachin went to field and chanted ‘Sachin Sachin’ to grab his attention. To his credit, the god of cricket kept waving to the frenzied crowds, making them scream louder than ever.
Police had a tough time controlling the fans who kept running wherever Sachin moved. “It was my dream to watch Sachin play. Now my dream has been fulfilled,” said a beaming student, P Srikar of Dilsukhnagar.
Young batsman Virat Kohli danced to the rhythmic chants of ‘Virat...Virat’ while waving to the crowds. Pointing towards his colleague Virendra Sehwag, Kohli asked the audience to cheer up him, to which the fans gladly obliged. Sehwag too reciprocated and waved to the crowds.
It was Pattinson’s wicket, the last to fall, which made the crowd erupt in joy.