Winter is when Jaipur springs to life. Flowers bloom at Nehru Garden and colours tempt eyes. Rohit Sharma’s participation in the Vijay Hazare Trophy has added colour to the Pink City. He is the Pied Piper who is ensuring bums on seats.
Jaipur is not a cricketing backwater. It regularly hosts IPL matches. From time to time, it hosts international matches as well. And yet, nearly 20,000 spectators walked through the turnstiles for Mumbai’s first game in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against minnows Sikkim. Fans made a beeline to get an entry to Sawai Mansingh Stadium as Mumbai played their second game in the tournament against Uttarakhand on Friday. They serenaded the superstar with “Rohit, Rohit” chants.
The former India captain wowed the fans with a majestic 155 in the first game. Today proved to be an anti-climax. He was dismissed for a golden duck, out on the pull to Devendra Singh Bora, as Mumbai batted first. The fans were shocked but still put their hands together for their hero. Their love for Rohit is unconditional.
And they didn’t leave the ground, staying put to watch Rohit in the field. In between, the crowd was entertained by half-centuries from Musheer Khan and his brother Sarfaraz, and an excellent 93 not out off 82 balls from Hardik Tamore. The latter, by the way, could be mistaken for a Rohit lookalike these days.
Mumbai posted an imposing 331/7 in 50 overs. Bora was the most successful bowler for Uttarakhand, returning with 3/74 from 10 overs. He will treasure Rohit’s scalp. In time, that would be one for his grandchildren.
As Mumbai came out to field, fans urged Rohit to give them a wave. The star man obliged. Sport needs stardust to woo its audience. To paraphrase CRL James, what do they know of cricket who only technicalities know? Long live star culture.
(With inputs from Rohit Juglan in Jaipur)
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