Lincoln University wakes up to the Indians
It was an ideal winter morning
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Elsewhere New Zealand Herald profiled some of the key Indian players under the headline, "The happy-slog millionaires".
*** Lincoln University is about a half-an-hour's bus ride from the town. And it's some ride – through the green meadows, being watched by the hills, crossing the idyllic Prebbleton village. The Indian team took that ride for their first practice session of the tour, at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval, which in itself is what a painter would produce after reading Cardus and the likes on countryside cricket. No wonder the players were all in a cheerful mood when they arrived.
For somebody new to the city, it was difficult to believe a team would go so far out of the city for the nets session. Getting directions to it were hard enough since not many had heard of it before.
But before India reached, England Lions, here to face New Zealand Emerging Players, were training there. Local Indian expats began to arrive half an hour before the team did. India maybe used to the attention wherever they go in the world, but even they wouldn’t have expected such an enthusiastic turnout at a ground half of Christchurch didn’t know of.
The England Lions, including Luke Wright, Samit Patel and Sajid Mahmood, went on about their business like university students would do on a routine day. Not a single journalist to watch, a fan was a far cry. The ground staff golf-carted their way around the ground as they would on any other day. But at around 2.30pm, cars started pulling up. From nowhere a crowd of about 35 gathered even before the players arrived, one of them a courier driver and a school mate of Irfan Pathan's. John Wright was surprised at seeing the crowd and realised what they were there for only after the Indian team arrived. "Sachin, Sachin," he chanted, not too loud lest the man himself heard.
This was no routine practice session. The groundstaff had to get to work immediately to keep people out of the nets area. The word spread, and in no time the crowd almost doubled. A few Indian students in the university, along with their New Zealand friends, were among those who stayed the longest. Out came the bean bags, sofa and an easy chair, from what looked like a hostel building near the Oval. And then the beer. The rest made use of the grass banks around the ground. Every good shot, every good extraordinary delivery, every special catch was cheered.
The Indian team, even if not consciously, played along, with banter loud enough for them to enjoy. Virender Sehwag, beaten by a Sachin Tendulkar delivery, said, "Main aapko kaise maar sakta hoon [How can I hit you, it won't look good]." Gautam Gambhir complained he didn't have anything to do in the nets after his batting was over. "Even in Sri Lanka, when all and sundry bowled, the captain didn't let me bowl." Loud enough for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to hear.
The crowd spoke in their respective native languages when their state compatriots came in earshot. Two of them started talking in Kannada to catch Venkatesh Prasad's attention, when he came to gather the ball. The Gujaratis, who dominated the composition of the crowd, tried the same trick when any of Yusuf Pathan, Irfan, Zaheer Khan or Ravindra Jadeja approached.
Loud laughter emanated both from inside the nets, and outside. A lack of overbearing securitymen, as in India, helped. Despite the funs and games, it was an intense first session, focusing on all three disciplines, after which all the players obliged with autographs – on bats, papers, and bodies - and photographs. A quaint university had come to life for three hours. The locals acknowledged not many would turn up if New Zealand were training. It will be put to test on Monday, when the hosts assemble after finishing their domestic Twenty20s.
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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