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India vs Bangladesh: White finds a place in pink Eden
IND vs BAN: For the first time in 85 years of Test cricket in the city, the white jersey was in fashion and in fact outdid the blue one by some distance.
“The size seems small, shall I take the T20 one? Oh! Alright,” a middle-aged man hung up the phone and picked up a white Test jersey with ‘Virat’ written on the back of it. “My son only wants the white jersey,” he later told Hindustan Times. That has been the story of Kolkata’s maidan market and the vicinity of Eden Gardens during the historic pink ball Test. For the first time in 85 years of Test cricket in the city, the white jersey was in fashion and in fact outdid the blue one by some distance.
“Sab Dada (Sourav Ganguly) ki meherbaani hai,” said a vendor who was selling only India’s Test jerseys in the road beside the CTC bus stand in Esplanade, Kolkata – some 2 kilometres from the Eden Gardens, where The sale of white jersey with numbers and names behind them rocketed during India’s first-ever day/night Test. Jerseys with Virat and Rohit’s name were hot favourites and despite Dhoni never getting the opportunity to wear a numbered jersey in Tests, the ‘Dhoni No.7’ white was a close third.
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“Have been selling 80-90 pieces of white jersey since Thursday,” said Dinesh Mondal, a vendor who had a full range of accessories like the flag, tri-coloured headbands, face paint, caps, bandanas but he said that nothing could match demands of the Test jersey. “My stalks only lasted till Lunch on Day 1, the white Test jersey just vanished. Never imagined people would be interested in buying Test jersey so much. It’s almost four times the number of blue jerseys I’m selling right now,” said Mondal.
The Test jersey came into fashion after ICC started the idea of printing number and names of cricketers on the rear side for the first time in the history of the game from August this year. Inda played their first match with the new Test jersey against West Indies in the last week of August. But their first home Test match with the name-printed jerseys was against South Africa in Visakhapatnam. That is where the vendors started to sell the white India jersey for the first time and it became an instant hit.
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“It was an experiment, we got a very good response and decided to continue for every Test match now, added Mondal, who hails from New Barrackpore, where the duplicate jerseys are made and circulated to different parts of the country.
The sale of white jerseys during the pink ball Test, however, beat the sale of previous four venues in India. The vendors attribute it to the craze of day/night Test. “When we get so many people, the sale will naturally go up,” said Nilu, another vendor.
The price more or less varied between Rs 80-120 but rose to about 160 within 200 metres of the stadium gates. “It’s something new, and white Test jerseys look so fashionable,” said Aneek, a B Tech student, who along with his group of friends were sporting the white.
The festive-like atmosphere, however, lasted only for 3 days as Bangladesh were outplayed but their Test jerseys too fared pretty well. “There were some Bangladesh supporters on Day 1 who bought their Test jersey. The sale would have been more had the match last 5 days,” said Nilu.
