A FEW minutes after tea on Thursday, a huge cheer went up around the HPCA stadium here. Inzamam-ul Haq was walking out to bat and the cheer quickly became an impromptu rendition of Happy Birthday to you.
The Pakistan skipper, who turned 35, couldn’t have been very happy with the way his batsmen were batting. But then again, being a man with a sense of history, he’d probably have felt the emotion of the occasion.
While Inzamam is obviously the biggest draw — members of the local Haj committee lined up to meet him, the HPCA distributed 15,000 ladoos to mark his birthday and there was a party at the Asia Health Resorts on Thursday evening — the other players have been feted too. Danish Kaneria was taken to Chamundeswari temple and local shopkeepers bemoaned the heavy security that prevented them from giving the players “gifts from India”.
Perhaps Indians want to show the Pakistanis that anything the latter can do, they can do better.