Indian cricket fans experience the laughter of sorrow alongside anger and disbelief

NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Fans of the Indian cricket team experienced the laughter of sorrow on Saturday.
Anger, dejection and disbelief apart, laughter, from streams of pain, emanated from across the country after its much-admired cricket team crumbled to its lowest Test total of 36 in Australia.
Opener Mayank Agarwal and night-watchman Jasprit Bumrah walked out with full of hope on the third day of the first Day/Night Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.
But what transpired in the next couple of hours shattered the hearts of millions of Indians as they saw their team give up without a fight.
CVS Krishnan, an avid cricket lover from Chennai, had convinced his seven-year-old granddaughter to part with her cartoon channels and watch the match as he was hopeful of a good show by India.
However, minutes into the match, he was shocked and disappointed with the way things panned out.
His enthusiasm soon gave way to frustration and he gave back the TV remote to his granddaughter and involved himself with other chores.
“This was the worst below-par performance ever by an Indian team,” he said.
Braving the biting cold in Himachal Pradesh, 29-year-old Divyansh rushed home from his night duty, hoping for an encore of the 2018 31-run win at the same venue, only to regret not catching up on his sleep instead.
“It was Adelaide, we have won here before. It was supposed to be a repeat. But Agarwal fell and then the batsmen dropped like flies. It was a nightmare. What a waste of time,” he said.
After watching the colossal batting collapse, 34-year-old Saurav Das predicted “Kohlikitohli” was in for 0-4 whitewash.
“A dismal performance by #kohlikitoli. One of the worst days in the history of Indian cricket. 4-0 scoreline is looming large on the Indian team.”
Soham Sehgal, 13, who recently started watching Test cricket, couldn’t stop himself from comparing the batting collapse to the ones sometimes seen in IPL.
“What were they doing? 36/9, these things only happen in IPL, not at the international level. India’s scorecard looked like a mobile number.”
Ruhi Singh, an ardent Kohli fan, had a reaction similar to how the skipper often reacts when a catch is dropped.
“I had a Virat Kohli type reaction when Virat and the rest of the team got out.”
Farook Bava missed out on the action in the first two days when India had produced a good show, but he rued the team’s “casual approach”.
“I missed the first two days because of office but today I saw the match live and India’s performance was depressing, not a single player has scored in two digits. It really shows the casual approach by players.
“The team selection was also very bad, should have opted for Gill instead of Prithvi Shaw.”
Mayank Sinha from Bikaner decided to focus on the lighter side of things.
“First I was disappointed looking at the scoreboard and then I couldn’t stop laughing. To imagine a world champion not being able to score a collective half-century, it’s just ridiculous. At least now my weekend is clear to do other things.”
While others struggled to get over India’s batting failure, 28-year-old Akshi Dube from Delhi marvelled at the brilliant pace bowling on display.
“I would not blame the Australian pitch. Cummins and Hazelwood were simply brilliant. I can watch this Hazelwood and Cummins spell again and again. Pitching the ball at one spot and seaming it both ways,” he said. (PTI)

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