KOCHI: Unlike the fans in other Indian Super League host cities, the crowd in Kochi has never subjected the Kerala Blasters FC to the ignominy of playing in front of vacant seats. And on Saturday, that loyalty was at its prolific best.
Their home team, on the other hand, had been several notches down the scale in reciprocating the “12th man’s” expectations. But on Saturday, the Blasters compensated for all their perceived shortcomings.
In front of an impressive 60,990 people at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium here, the Blasters pulled off a scintillating semifinal victory against Chennaiyin FC.
Though Ishfak Ahmed and Iain Hume were brilliant with their goal contributions, it was Kerala’s own Sushant Mathew who stole the show on Saturday with his third goal. Not only was his long-range curler yet another cue for the crowd to go into mad merrymaking, it also helped Blasters cross their score to more than two (3-0) in one match.If this was the best way for the Blasters to express their gratitude to the impressive crowd support, their co-owner Sachin Tendulkar took it a step further and invited his cricketing friends Zaheer Khan and Yuvaraj Singh to watch the match along with him.
At the VIP lounge inside the stadium, the former cricketing stars shared laughs and waved at people, sending the crowd into a spasm of sheer joy and excitement. Chennaiyin’s Abhishek Bachhan, who, with his wife Aiswarya Rai Bachhan, created a stir the last time his team played here, was commanding little attention this time.
Needless to say, they were chanting the name Sachin; and they kept doing it, at intervals and for durations of their choosing.