Second nature: Kishan kept busy without trying to be aggressive.
| Photo Credit: R. RAGU

Soaking in the atmosphere: Spectators had a great time cheering for their favourite team in a keenly contested match.
| Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

Afghanistan delivered against Pakistan, and so did the Chepauk crowd to complete the spectacle.

How would it have felt to be among the fans when two of India’s neighbours, known for their fierce rivalry, played each other in a high-stakes World Cup match?

Here’s the answer. Rather, a perspective biased towards scenes captured from the ‘J’ stand in the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium through the ebbs and flows of a match that saw Hashmatullah Shahidi’s men triumph over Babar Azam’s side by eight wickets.

There were no Monday blues for the Chennai crowd, 23,284-strong, as it was a red-letter day in the calendar to celebrate the auspicious Ayudha pooja.

The spectators, who sang along and appreciated the playing of the Dil Dil Pakistan song during the Fan Juke Box segment during the innings break, also made sure they received the Afghan outfit with applause and cheers when it lapped the stadium after the memorable win. It was reminiscent of 1999 when this same crowd showered their love on the Pakistan team when it pipped India in a thriller of a Test match. Scenes that underline why Chepauk stands out.

The people had equal love for anyone’s game they liked on the field and had no qualms in voicing that affection at the top of their voices.

The day began with Babar getting a loud cheer when he won the toss and decided to bat. There was an elevated version of the cheer when the skipper came to the crease with the stadium reverberating to the grooving music of Karuppu Vellai from Vikram Vedha to match the hype of the man. A row of fans with Babar’s name on their jerseys stood up and danced to the tunes of the tournament’s official song Dil Jashn Bole as he crashed his first ball to the boundary line.

With Eagles taking a round above the Marina beach, one could see a line of Kiwis’ jerseys inside the stadium, mostly bearing the No. 22 of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson which might’ve been bought when the side played its games in the same ground against Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The fans started settling in and waited eagerly for their heroes’ arrival on the boundary line. The first instance of Rashid Khan coming to the fence had a fanatic bunch lovingly badgering him to look back and wave. Peeche dekho, peeche (Look behind, behind) a kid in his school uniform bawled. One of the fans even persisted with Azmatullah Omarzai to throw a water bottle to the stands for them to drink, and he obliged, creating a cult-hero figure out of the guy who got the souvenir. The Indians in the crowd were especially interested in taking selfies with him and other Afghan nationals.

The fly-on-the-wall tag quickly started fading away as the adrenaline kicked in with Noor Ahmed claiming two quick wickets to keep the prolific Pakistan batters at bay. There was a considerable number of fans from Afghanistan in the stadium, all draped proudly in their black-red-green shades. The chants started getting louder and louder, which led to a team of Pakistan supporters changing their seats to near the ‘Afghan club’. This resulted in a couple of spirited words being exchanged by each faction, all avidly captured by the involved crowd. The police found it just above tolerable and asked some of the fans to return to their original seats. “Fair enough,” said a gentleman in the background, taking a break from sipping his cool Cola.

The Pakistan innings ended with a swashbuckling cameo from Iftikhar Ahmed and the fans chanting maar, maar Iftikhar (hit, hit, Iftikhar). The Afghanistan caucus knew it was going to be tough after the late surge, but that didn’t keep them from believing in their side.

“Bowling kharab hua end mein, lekin chase kar sakte hein,” (Bowling was bad in the end, but it is chaseable) said an Afghan national, now living in Mysuru, in a traditional Perahan and Tunban.

As the sun descended on the horizon, the sizzle of the Cola started making way for the steam of the tea with Afghanistan’s hot pursuit gaining momentum like the evening breeze from the Bay of Bengal.

The openers started well and the crowd opened up again as the DJ, who deserves a shoutout for keeping the fans engaged, orchestrated the Mexican wave to perfection.

With all the talk of India’s neighbours playing in Chennai doesn’t mean that the passionate crowd forgot about their side’s chances in the quadrennial event. “India ithu varaikum first batting panale machaa, athu konjam risk thaa,” (India hasn’t batted first yet in the tournament bro, which has its risks) said a youngster with his eyes set on the big screen showing highlights of Virat Kohli’s 95 against New Zealand at Dharamshala.

Afghanistan had the chase under control but the spectators went out of control when the coliseum was lit up by their mobile phones’ flashlights moving in a synchronised manner.

A foreshadowing of how the energy levels would be when the chase eventually ended in a rousing success. The fulfilment of a day well spent for a cricket fan was attained when the Afghan outfit managed to beat Pakistan for the first time ever in ODIs.

Politics being in the mix when two countries with a lot of history play a high-octane match is a given. However, for the Chepauk crowd, the day was about enjoying the game of cricket and the lucky lot would have left the cauldron with nothing but memories to cherish.