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Soccer: India smell win
The massive drawing room at the North West Frontier Province chief minister?s official residence was full of the state?s top dignitaries.
The massive drawing room at the North West Frontier Province chief minister’s official residence was full of the state’s top dignitaries.
The Indian and Pakistan football teams were sitting in the front row, with other officials were standing behind, listening to the sports minister of the state.
“Nothing excites us more than playing a match against India,” the handsome minister said in his deep voice.
He, obviously, was eager to make his short speech politically correct. “An India-Pakistan match is perhaps the most exciting thing on earth and I am sure players of both teams would get to learn a lot more from this series. I am a Pakistani, but will like to see the deserving team win at the Qayyum Stadium on Thursday.”
His last line brought sparks in the eyes of Indian captain S Venkatesh.
“If the minister really means what he says, then India will win the series,” he said in a low voice. “We are the better team.”
He is right, but only to an extent. Before the tour India’s supremacy was an accepted fact.
But the draw at Quetta upset all calculations. While India struggled, Pakistan established that they can turn the tables on their neighbours.
There is a feeling that excess of attention here may have turned the Indians into a softer and relaxed lot. One thing is for sure — the guests are getting a kind of attention here, which they rarely receive back home.
The organisers have lined up innumerable receptions for the visitors with people from all walks of life being spontaneous in welcoming the team.
On Wednesday, the team was taken on horse carts through the busy areas of the city. Traders and shopkeepers left their businesses to greet the team with welcome banners and gifts, and people showered flowers throughout the one-hour journey.
The boys were shown around the old and historic places, which included the ancestral house of film star Dilip Kumar.
