Boria Majumdar in Melbourne
Monday was the first time I was back at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) since that amazing T20 World Cup encounter between India and Pakistan – a match now famous for Virat Kohli’s incredible match-winning innings and back-foot punch for six. And the moment I reached the Dennis Lillee statue outside Gate 2, so very iconic of the MCG, it reminded me of an incident which I will always have fond memories of.
On October 23, 2022, the MCG was a real spectacle. India v Pakistan was a festival and fans had come in from all parts of the world. As my colleague Amit Shah (he was working for RevSportz at the time) and I walked towards the gate, we met a young Indian couple who looked rather flustered. Amit spoke to them in Marathi and learned that they had come to Australia for their honeymoon, and hoped to watch the India-Pakistan game. On landing in Melbourne, they became aware that the game was sold out, just like the Boxing Day Test is, and it was almost impossible to organise tickets at the eleventh hour.
“We are huge cricket fans, and the reason we came here was to watch this game,” the husband told me. “With the MCG capacity close to 100,000, we felt it wouldn’t be an issue to buy tickets. Had we known this would be the situation, we would have bought tickets long back.”
‘This was to be my gift to him,’ said his wife. As I listened to them, it struck me that these were the kind of fans who made Indian cricket what it is. Without such fans, there would be no IPL, for example. And without tickets, they would have to head back to Mumbai without fulfilling their dream of watching cricket’s marquee match-up.
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A close friend of mine who runs one of the leading sports tourism companies in India was an official agent for the ICC. On the spur of the moment, I called him and asked if he had two tickets to give me. I was happy to pay, but I knew he was unlikely to accept the money. ‘These are the last few tickets, so if you badly need them, please take,’ he said. I was delighted to offer the tickets to the couple as a wedding present.
They looked stunned. ‘How much should we pay you?’ asked the husband. ‘We can pay you any amount you want,’ said his wife. ‘This is incredible.’ When I told them it was a gift and that they need not pay anything, they did something strange. The husband suddenly touched my feet and sought my blessings. ‘We don’t know how to thank you,’ said his wife, almost in tears. ‘You do not even know us, and yet you have just given us our best wedding present.’
Sport is all about spreading positivity, and I sent a long thank-you note to my friend for the tickets, before going into the ground. I met them again at the end of the match, while rushing to do my show. We had just witnessed a Kohli innings for the ages, and the husband gave me a warm hug before saying: ‘If we can ever do anything for you, we would be grateful.’
Now, for Boxing Day, we again have two tickets to give! If we meet some deserving fans, the tickets are theirs. May be another couple on honeymoon. Who knows?
Also Read: Australia the new Pakistan – ongoing series is no mere game of cricket