World Cup diary: Joyful flight to Mumbai and a World Cup that hates animals

By K.R. Nayar 
From Wankhede Stadium

Mumbai.  The Indigo Flight 6E2245 from Lucknow to Mumbai was filled with Indian cricket fans and a few England fans. Indian fans had their money’s worth and they seem to have also spent a lot of money on shopping as many carried bags filled with clothes and sweets. Most were wearing the Team India jersey too. England fans may have taken this flight to return before their team arrives home.

 

Indian fans celebrate. Photos ICC

The question as to what has happened to England continued to be discussed everywhere. It would be better to assign Scotland Yard to investigate this issue. The recent joke on Pakistan is that they now need to win the rest of their matches to enter Pakistan. 

 

Jos Buttler 

Many things amazed me in Lucknow including the huge loss for England.  On the way to the airport, I passed through Butler Palace and Butler colony. After England’s huge loss to India, I wonder if people would be happy to have the name of England skipper Jos Buttler for their colony. However, I realised that it was not named after the cricketer, but Deputy commissioner of Avadh named Sir Harcourt Butler during the British Regime in 1915.

 

The street named after women's helpline number 1090

As I journeyed along, I also noticed a street named '1090.' The driver informed me that this was the helpline number for women to report cases of domestic violence and dowry harassment. The name was chosen for this area, a popular street food location, to emphasize women's empowerment.

 

The news about some Pakistan players not been paid for five months by their board led to discussion over that. One wonders whether that is the reason behind their poor show and whether some of them decided: “if no pay, we do not play well.” Losing to Afghanistan, where they do not even have a world class venue to play, was quite a difficult result to chew.  

 

Pakistan team ... no pay before play

Pakistan Chief Selector Inzamam Ul Haq has resigned following allegations of conflict of interest as he happened to be a shareholder in a player management company. The point to be looked into is not about conflict of interest but why players have no interest to play at their best.

 

When an England fan was asked by a friend of mine as to what he felt about their match against India, he responded saying it was “rubbish”. Another talk about England is that they may now consider 50 over cricket as rubbish and a waste of time. Like tennis star Ivan Lendl who kept losing at the lush green Wimbledon courts and remarked that ‘Grass is for Cows’, it is likely that the England team may now remark that 50 over cricket is for Over-50s.

 

It seems this World Cup is against the animal rights groups. Teams with nicknames after animals have lost badly. The Bangladesh is referred to as Tigers, and they have been performing badly. Sri Lanka, called Lions, lost to Afghanistan in their last match. Since Afghanistan’s game is on the up now, it may not be right to refer to them as underdogs anymore.

  

Sleeping Barmy Army fan

The Bharat Army, Team India’s official supporters’ group’s Facebook posted a picture of an England supporter wearing The Barmy Army (England cricket supporters group) T shirt and sleeping. As the saying goes: “Sleep is the balm of hurt minds”, should they be re-named now as Balmy army?