Virat Kohli after the match in MCG, India vs Pakistan, T20 WC, 2022 (Image: BCCI)
India v Pakistan in New York on June 9, as part of the T20 World Cup, is just 25 days away. And India-Pakistan always bring about fascinating stories.
During the last T20 World Cup in Australia, I was going through one of my worst phases. A smile was a luxury, and yet there were incidents that left a permanent mark and have stayed on as fond memories. As we build up to the India-Pakistan match in New York, it is pertinent to recount one such.
On October 23, 2022, the MCG was a real spectacle. India-Pakistan was a festival and fans had come in from all parts of the world. As my colleague Amit (he was working for RevSportz at the time) and I walked towards the gate, we met a young Indian couple who looked rather flustered. Amit spoke to them in Marathi, and learned that they had come to Australia for their honeymoon, and hoped to watch the India-Pakistan game. On landing in Melbourne, they became aware that the game was sold out and it was almost impossible to organise tickets at the eleventh hour.
‘We are huge cricket fans, and the reason we came here was to watch this game,’ the husband told us. ‘With the MCG capacity close to 100,000, we felt it wouldn’t be an issue to buy tickets. Had we known this would be the situation, we would have bought tickets long back.’
‘This was to be my gift to him,’ said his wife. As I listened to them, it struck me that these were the kind of fans who made Indian cricket what it is. Without such fans, there would be no IPL, for example. And now, they would have to head back to Mumbai without fulfilling their dream of watching cricket’s marquee match-up.
Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya, India v Pakistan, MCG, 2022 (Image: BCCI)
A close friend of mine who runs one of the leading sports-tourism companies in India was an official agent for the ICC. On the spur of the moment, I called him and asked if he had two tickets to give me. I was happy to pay, but I knew he was unlikely to accept the money. ‘These are the last few tickets, so if you badly need them, please take,’ he said. ‘I am sending you two tickets.’ I asked the couple to wait for a few minutes, so that we could work something out. Just then, my friend sent me the two tickets he had promised on my WhatsApp. I was delighted to offer them to the couple as a wedding present.
They looked stunned. ‘How much should we pay you?’ asked the husband. ‘We can pay you any amount you want,’ said his wife. ‘This is incredible.’ When I told them it was a gift and that they need not pay anything, they did something strange. The husband suddenly touched my feet and sought my blessings. ‘We don’t know how to thank you,’ said his wife, almost in tears. ‘You do not even know us, and yet you have just given us our best wedding present.’ It was an incredibly satisfying feeling to see them float away as though on a cloud, and Amit and I looked at each other and smiled.
Sport is all about spreading positivity, and I sent a long thank-you note to my friend for the tickets, before going into the ground. I met them again at the end of the match, while rushing to do my show. We had just witnessed a Virat Kohli innings for the ages, and the husband gave me a warm hug before saying: ‘If we can ever do anything for you, we would be grateful.’ Those words made India’s win sweeter still, and my world was not all bad.
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The post A Kohli masterclass against Pakistan as a wedding present appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports.
India v Pakistan in New York on June 9, as part of the T20 World Cup, is just 25 days away. And India-Pakistan always bring about fascinating stories. During the…
The post A Kohli masterclass against Pakistan as a wedding present appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports.
