Spectators feel the pain as Team India go on leather hunt

Darpan Singh. Ahmedabad

(April)
While South Africa took a massive 400-plus lead and Indian bowlers unsuccessfully looked for wickets for most part of the day, there was little to cheer about for hundreds of fans braving a scorching sun at Motera on Friday. However, not ones to be content with the leather hunt by Team India, a majority of them employed different methods to keep themselves ‘cool’ and ‘appreciate’ good cricket by the Proteas.
A number of fans were seen savouring ice-creams, cold drinks and other food items being sold at different stands in the stadium, while being blissfully ignorant of the on-filed happenings, if there were any except the Proteas clearing the fence and stealing quick singles at regular intervals. To their delight, Harbhajan Singh broke into a jig when everything seemed dull and drab.
Ramakant Desai, who came to the stadium along with his family, said, “There was nothing in the match. It was very difficult to keep watching a game which cannot produce a positive result for us. It was fun having good food with the family.” Those running stalls in the stadium also confirmed that fewer people came because of the hopeless situation Team India found itself in but those who came had nothing much to do apart from looking for ‘cool’ food to beat the heat as well as the boredom.
Not only this, young spectators continued to boo players despite the fact that the cops deployed at the stadium tried their best to put a check on the practice. A group of students constantly teased Yuvraj Singh by screaming at the top of their voice ‘Deepika…Deepika’ as and when the southpaw was seen on the field carrying drinks and other stuff. The bunch did not spare even the local lad Irfan Pathan, who had to face similar volley of comments.
Soon after lunch, a number of spectators started leaving the stadium. When DNA sought to know the reason, which was anyway quite apparent, they said they would roam around in the city and return in the evening, hoping for things to improve. Some of them who had come from far-flung areas went to Sabarmati Ashram, while others chose to do window-shopping in the city.