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Pakistanis will not see the Taj Mahal
An extremely tight itinerary has meant that the Pakistani cricketers will not get a chance to visit Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
An extremely tight itinerary has meant that the Pakistani cricketers will not get a chance to visit Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
Although the Pakistani team will play the sixth and final One-Day International Sunday in New Delhi, barely 200 km north of Agra, the tough schedule has prevented the players from taking the trip.
"There is no time to visit Agra," Salim Altaf, the team manager, said.
"Although we will reach Delhi from Kanpur after the fifth ODI (April 12), we will have practice the next day and will fly back to Pakistan April 18, the day after the match," said Altaf, a former Test pace bowler.
Since many Pakistani players are touring India for the first time, they were keen to see the Taj Mahal.
Police smuggle in non-ticket holders
That Indians can employ any means to watch their favourite cricketers in action was proved yet again at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium Tuesday when a police escort vehicle 'smuggled' in four youngsters inside a car.
At 7.23 a.m. the first of the two front escort vehicles of the Indian team's coach arrived in the portico of the stadium, with four youngsters squeezed tightly between the four police personnel on the back seats of the Maruti Gypsy vehicle.
As soon as it made a screeching stop, the four sheepish-looking youngsters quickly alighted and stood in a corner. A police officer nodded at them as if to ask 'OK. Satisfied?' and the boys, in their early 20s, nodded back.
The four stood there for some time and watched the Indian players, who arrived at exactly 7.30 a.m., and the Pakistanis, who arrived a few minutes later, from close quarters. No one asked the young men for their tickets or passes.
Pathan's relatives disappointed
Among the VIP guests at the stadium were the family members of left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan, who was replaced by a fit-again Lakshmipathy Balaji despite being India's top scorer in the previous match with a career-best 64.
The family members included his mother Shamim bano and a few women who had travelled from their hometown Baroda, about 110 km from Ahmedabad.
They must have been disappointed when India's playing eleven was announced, as Balaji had replaced Pathan, who had played 80 balls and cracked two boundaries and four sixes in India's 106-run defeat at Jamshedpur.
Pathan, however, visited the ground during the match, but only to carry drinks and other stuff for the batsmen in the middle.
