PUNE: "Fabulous crowd here today. Everybody is engaged. you can sense the World Cup is warming up," announced Mark Nicholas, just before Tim Southee dismissed Rassie van der Dussen's stumps. The crowd, on their feet, applauded the South African batter as he walked off the field with a sensational century
On a weekday, for a match that did not involve the home side, Pune turned up to dismantle what was being propagated at the start of the tournament: 'Indians don’t love cricket, Indians love Indian cricket'.
Amongst them was the sports-loving couple from the city, Prakhar and Bhargavi Dixit, who were there at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium right from the toss.
Supporting different sides, Prakhar was donning a replica jersey of South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen, while Bhargavi was happy to support the Kiwis with her Devon Conway shirt. There was banter about which team was going to come on top, but in the end, it was all about the love for the sport. "This is our first match in the World Cup from Stadium," the couple told this daily.
"From here we will travel to Ahmedabad for Australia vs England. Then we will come back to Pune for Australia vs Bangladesh. We tried our best to get tickets for India matches. We were in those online queues for the longest time, but couldn't get any tickets. So we decided to come for these matches instead," Prakhar added.
"When India is not playing, we support whoever is playing good cricket. We are not biased toward any specific team, but South Africa and New Zealand are playing some good cricket in this tournament. It's just the love for the sport, I think. Whoever plays good cricket, wins our hearts," Bhargavi said like a true cricket fan.
There weren't the only ones at the venue though. Among the 31,940 fans who turned up at the venue, which has a capacity of 37, 406, was a local named Mayuresh Topale. A South Africa fan himself, Topale even got the customised jersey with his name on to support the Proteas. "After India, I support South Africa in this World Cup. They have been playing really well, so I thought why not get a customised jersey. You will see many fans supporting South Africa today. I am not sure if India will play them in the final just yet, but I want these sides to face each other in the semis. One can hope," Topale laughs.
With the Rugby World Cup winding up in France, the South African fans are turning up in India to witness this carnival of cricket and they are too impressed by the mighty crowds. Morne Kirstein and Gavin Myburgh, both from Pretoria, have been loving the support their team is receiving in India. Gavin experienced South Africa's tense finish against Pakistan in Chennai from the crowd, while Morne was absolutely in awe of the people turning up in the WC on a weekday.
"The crowds have been fantastic. Especially when the lights come out and the music turns up, it is just the best atmosphere to watch cricket. Chennai was equally amazing. People are welcoming and friendly. They want to talk about cricket and take photos with us. Even when they are supporting India, they are wishing us well for the tournament. This is a proper cricket-loving crowd," the duo added.
Even with the issues over tickets that made initial non-India matches a non-event, and many cricket-loving fans failing to secure tickets for India matches, the tournament has seen fans turning up irrespective of the sides that are playing. It was the case when Afghanistan beat England in Delhi and in Chennai when the crowd experienced the nail-biter between Pakistan and South Africa.
Cricket, in India, is a religion for sure. What this World Cup has shown is that after a time it doesn't really matter who the deities are.
If the World Cup is the carnival, Indians are like the kids who want to go on every single ride. It doesn't matter if that's not the ride they love the most, they will show up, hoping 22 guys help them create memories that will last even after the cricket carnival is over.