Sharmistha Gooptu in Birmingham
Yesterday, on Day 1 of the Birmingham Test, I met Raghav and his girlfriend Anisha as I stepped inside the stadium. They were huddled together with their coffee, and he seemed to be explaining something to her. Both live in Northampton, an hour’s drive from Birmingham – both British Asians.
Raghav’s family is originally from Baroda and he is “a big, big India fan” and terribly excited about cricket, though Anisha by her own admission, knows nothing about the game. It’s her first time here at a cricket stadium. “Raghav’s teaching me,” she laughed. There is a huge excitement in the Indian community in their neighbourhood about the ongoing Test match and both Raghav and his brother play cricket for a local village – Raunds. Anisha likes Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, and Raghav is watching out for Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal. It’s something new this young couple are exploring together, and totally loving it.
And again this morning outside the Edgbaston gate I met the Nandurkar family from Maharashtra. Nimish Nandurkar, who lives in Birmingham, has his family of four visiting him for the first time. He had hoped to see Kohli in action when they had booked the tickets for the game in August or September last year, before the former India captain had announced his retirement from the format. Mrs Nandurkar’s favourite happens to be KL Rahul. These first timers at Edgbaston are rooting for Rishabh Pant, Gill and Rahul, welcoming in the post-Rohit and Kohli era.