India back in Wankhede

One-Day International cricket returned to the city after two years with skipper Virat Kohli playing his 200th ODI at the Wankhede Stadium against New Zealand. The stadium was jam-packed with fans travelling from different parts of the city and a handful of them coming from around the country.

The last time the Men in Blue played here, they suffered a thumping defeat at the hands of South Africa, losing by a margin of 214 runs. But in India, enthusiasm for the game never dies, which was visible on Sunday as the fan turnout turned the 
stadium blue.

As the gates were opened, lines of ticket holders could be seen waiting in the heat by the seaside to watch their favourites. One such fan is Pratik Jain, who left his house in Badlapur at 4 am to watch Rohit Sharma play. Pratik witnessed the Indian vice-captain’s first double century in Bengaluru. 

“I was in Bengaluru for a week and I went to watch the match because I got a holiday that day and I was lucky enough to watch Rohit do something so historic. I watch all the Mumbai Indians games just to watch him play,” said Pratik, wearing the jersey number 45 with Rohit’s name printed on its back. Unfortunately for Pratik, Rohit missed a Trent Boult delivery completely when he was trying for a mighty heave, being dismissed for a score of 20. It was, incidentally, his highest score at Wankhede. Rohit had previously played just one match here, against South Africa.

Local flavour 
The Indian squad was filled with three players from Mumbai but only Rohit could make it to the playing 11. Despite scoring four consecutive half-centuries against Australia, Ajinkya Rahane was dropped with the return of Shikhar Dhawan to the squad. Kohli explained before the match that he “did not want to confuse” Rahane by playing him in the middle-order. 

The other Mumbai player in the squad was Shardul Thakur, who featured against Sri Lanka earlier this year. He received a great deal of attention from fans on social media for wearing the number 10 jersey, which was the number used by Sachin Tendulkar. As soon as the masterblaster  appeared at the stadium, the crowd started chanting his name, crying “Sachin! Sachin!” and thereby shifting the focus from the pitch for a bit.

The ‘Over the boundary’ catch 
After a slow start to his innings, Indian skipper Kohli was shifting gears in the 25th over, pulling a delivery hard to send the ball over the head of the Colin Munro and landing straight in the hands of Aayush Zimare. Aayush, a ballboy, pulled off a one-handed stunner and cameras started panning towards him. The 14-year old Aayush plays for Old Podarites Cricket Club and had his 15 minutes of fame after his heroics.

Premier League flavour
Even though the English Premier League takes place in Europe, there were a few fans at Wankhede holding boards that said, “Wenger Out” referring to the the Premier League club Arsenal FC’s manager Arsene Wenger. The trend has grown in the social media circle over the past couple of years with fans holding boards in matches where there is no connection with Arsenal, just to display their frustration.