Kolkata: On Saturday evening at the Eden Gardens, it seemed the clock moved back by three years, until when the chants of ‘Sachin…Sachin’ reverberated at almost every venue across the world.
The great man’s name set up the India vs Pakistan humdinger, when Harsha Bhogle called him up on the dias for the felicitation ceremony ahead of the big game of the ICC World Twenty20.
The ground staff did a fabulous job as there was not a drop of water on the playing arena despite stop-start rain for more than an hour threatened to play spoil sport.
But all of it was forgotten as the green came out from beneath the covers; and when Sachin Tendulkar walked up to say a few words, the crowd went berserk.
“Kamon achho, bhalo?” Sachin address the local crowd in Bengali, which followed the customary “Sachin…Sachin” chants as the master batsman had to take a pause, just like he did while giving the farewell speech back on November 16, 2013, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
“India-Pakistan matches have always been exciting, nice to see stalwarts from Pakistan. We welcome them here, and also Sunny [Sunil Gavaskar] bhai is here, and Amit [Amitabh Bachchan] ji. Let’s enjoy cricket above all,” Sachin said.
Besides Sachin, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) had invited former Pakistan captains Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, who is also the current coach, and Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag, apart from senior Bachchan and his son Abhishek from the Bollywood fraternity.
“I feel the same as I last played for Pakistan and I hope the result will be the same too,” Imran said, bringing a loud cheer from the crowd.
Bollywood super star, Amitabh, whose wife, Jaya, is from the City of Joy, also started his address in Bengali.
“Aami aapna jamai babu? (I am your son-in-law),” he said.
“I want to thank [CAB president] Sourav Ganguly and CAB for inviting me here today at this historic venue to witness another historic game between the two countries. I wish all the very best for the game and may the best team win.”
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