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Sleepy Dharamshala wakes up to Pak
Pak players have found support in Dharamshala that might rival what they get back home.
Dharamshala, a quiet Himalayan resort which has become the cradle of Tibetan spirituality, is fast turning out to be a home away from home for the touring Pakistan cricket team.
Whether it is passers by on the road, or teenage girls rooting for their favourites stars, or even the hermits themselves, the cricketers from across the border have found support in Dharamshala that might rival what they receive back home.
There were a few tricolours being waved at the new HPCA Stadium on the opening day of the three-day tour opener between the Pakistanis and a Indian Board President's XI, but there was ample support for the men in green from the few thousands of locals who had come to watch the match.
Sure, there was no green flag to be seen. But when a thumping straight drive by Taufeeq Umar off Gagandeep Singh sent the noisy crowd into raptures, you knew there was a lot of goodwill for the Pakistanis.
However, play seemed to matter little though. All that the crowd needed was just a glimpse of the Pakistan players on their first full-fledged tour in six years.
The practice session on the eve of the match was notable as much for the intensity at the nets as shrieks and whistles from the inmates of the Sports Authority of India Women's Hostel from the adjacent compound.
Who is your favourite player from the Pakistan team? "Mohammad Sami," screamed the females, literally from the rooftop.
They also did not forget to sing "Happy Birthday" to the dashing Shahid Afridi, the fact mattering little that his birthday was actually a day before.
One of them said she was "from Lahore" but you knew that was a bluff. After all they belonged to Sports Authority of India, not Pakistan. Was it a case of a native Kashmiri wearing her Pakistani heart on the sleeves?
There was no such inner turmoil though for the handful of saffron-robed men who took a quiet peak at the nets session from a distance.
Their temporal head, the Dalai Lama, might have declined the invitation to inaugurate the match, but that did not stop these Tibetan monks from catching a glimpse of the cricketing Gods.
