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Vashi2Panvel.com: Navi Mumbai: November 30: It was a day before the match. I’m sitting right across Irfan Pathan, one of the cutest and hottest hunks in the Indian cricket team, the backdrop being the Wankhede stadium ground where the rest of the players are practicing at the nets. Long curly hair, gentle eyes and a grin that can light up a cricket field - a grin that flashes when he takes a wicket. Hey but he has chopped off that springy crop. Now why did he do that, I ask. And he flashes me that grin and replies that if I want it long, he would keep it that way from now on. “For me?” I ask, sheepishily. And the grin flashes again, as I am beginning to go weak on my knees, I ask him why me? And just as he begins to answer, I get a huge kick on my back.

“Get up you idiot, don’t you want to go to the stadium?” my brother screams. And then reality sinks in. Oh hell, Irfi was just in my dreams. So what! I’m going to the stadium, where the players would be engrossed in net practice a day before their Big Match on Monday. I had after all been invited by the media manager. So what if I forgot to collect my press pass as directed? I would most definitely get a glimpse of the players, an interview or two and who knows even my dream might actually come true! After all, they say that dreams seen in the morning actually come true!

So I reach Marine Lines and walk up the stairs to a small over-bridge that will land me in the stadium premises. There is security all over the place. An old man is sitting at the gate ready to pounce on any unauthorized entry. I coolly go up to him and tell him, “Excuse me, mujhe andar manager ne bulaya hai.” I show him my I-card. He lets me in without another word!

I get inside and man! I have never seen so many policewallas before. Looks like there are many fanatics like me. A bright Sunday morning with the cricket team around for company, who would want to want to miss the opportunity? By now it shouldn’t be difficult for you to guess that most of the fans out there were girls and women. I go to a security man at the gate near the steps leading to the inside of the stadium. The same ritual. “Excuse me, mujhe andar manager ne bulaya hai.” “Sorry madam, aapke pas andar jaane ka paas nahi hai. Sorry.” Oh damn. The pass! How could I forget! Blasphemy!

Anyway, I get to know that the players will be out soon. So I wait and wait and wait, with the rest of the crowd. Nobody seems to mind the delay. After all, the team needs to practice to win tomorrow and the Proteas are not an easy team to beat!

All the enthusiastic fans who don’t have enough influence in town or enough wads of money n their pockets,(read me) can do nothing but try and get a sneak peek of the players from little gaps outside the stadium and envy the more blessed ones.

But perseverance pays off. The conference is finally over. That signals the end of our wait. We can finally see the players walk into the team bus, snatch an autograph or two and of course, all cameras are in full throttle. It so happens that the wait is half an hour long. And finally, a pink faced Greg Chappell heads to the team bus. No one wants his autograph. Next comes the other firangs associated with the team. And finally, a player emerges. “Its Dhoni,” screams the girl next to me at the same time making me want to scream because she was stamping on my poor foot. Anyway, I need to take a snap so I shut up. But she doesn’t. As the players, J.P Yadav, Suresh Raina, R.P Singh, Sreeshanth and the rest of the new brigade enters, her voice only escalates and so does the stamping. Added to it is another trouble, the security thinks enough is enough, and that the fans cannot have a ball, and charge in with sticks and ask people to stay at a distance. The crowd moves away for a bit, but when Yuvi makes a stylish entry, all the security can do is to watch. Kaif, Bhajji, Kartik, Sehwag, Irfan, Agarkar all receive the same applause. But it is left to the big two to make the crowd turn into a mob.

In comes skipper Dravid, and oops I forget to take a photo. I just couldn’t stop looking at his smile you see. And the crowd goes berserk. Sensing the excitement, the skipper jogs his way to the bus and the fans are left to the mercy of the security who, begin to use their sticks.

The girl next to me shrieks in anger, “How dare you touch me with your stick. You are gonna be in deep deep trouble. My dad will see to it. And just wait till Sachin comes. How many people will you stop then?”

Wow! Her prophecy proves to be true. Sachin, too experienced with fan behaviour, doesn’t take any risks. He too jogs upto he bus as if his pant was on fire!

So with team packed into the bus, and the fans waving best wishes and good-bye, the vehicle moves out. And what do you think happens on the gate, the crowd that was not let in (I as among the lucky few), has to be pushed and shoved to make way for the players to move out. Phew! Thank God I at least got my travelling expenses’ worth.

And as I move out of the gate, the girl who, made my foot black and blue, calls out to me and says a polite sorry. I just mumble out an “It’s ok” and continue on my way, still unable to believe that I actually saw the same guys whom I watch on TV and read in papers. And more astounding is the fact, that the girl knew all the while about my leg!

Text and Pictures by Lakshmi Subramanian