Indian fan of Pakistan team in Bengaluru

I was not surprised when Abbas Raza said this in a very emotional way while leaving at the Wagah border, “Good brother, take care of yourself.” In the current situation, if a Pakistani goes to India, the people close to him will return safely. The worry remains.

India has made it very difficult for Pakistanis to get a visa this time, wherever there is a cricket match in the world, accredited journalists get a visa, but this time it did not happen, the ICC tried hard but it was too much. No success, only 8-10 journalists from Pakistan got permission to go to India.

I am one of them, when I got a call from the Indian High Commission to give my passport, I submitted it with the documents to the office of the courier company the next morning, but two days later I got a message that the passport was not received by the couriers. There was some problem.

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My intention was to go to Ahmedabad to watch the Pakistan-India match, but when I got my passport back in Karachi, 10 overs of the match had already passed. Whenever I went to India, the entry point was Delhi. This time, India also visited Wagah and Mumbai along with Delhi. Given the option that arrival and return from any of the three cities is possible.

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Earlier it was easy to reach India directly by PIA flight from Karachi in few hours, now one has to go by airlines of Dubai, Qatar or any other country. On arrival, Sanate welcomed, earlier when the visa was not so strict, thousands of people used to come and go, now only a limited number of citizens can come, the matter of immigration etc. was completed within a few minutes.

There were probably only 3-4 people except me, walked a few steps and entered the Indian border, where the passport details were checked, then a dog came to sniff the luggage, from there, after checking the passport and luggage once again, that was it. was made to wait, well it took a lot of time and was searched many times, showed the polio drop certificate, but again the drops were administered and the Indian certificate was given. came to do

I thought this phase was over, but a little further on, I had to get off the taxi at a check post and then show my passport and visa. From there, I reached Amritsar Airport, where I had a flight to Bengaluru after a few hours. There was a big difference between the currency of India and Pakistan. One Indian rupee is worth about three and a half Pakistani rupees, Pakistani credit and debit cards are not accepted in India, so we faced difficulties in booking domestic tickets and hotels. Surprisingly, Bangalore is the third most populous city in India, has a literacy rate of over 80% and is a major IT hub.

Former Indian stars Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble are from the same city. At the hotel, fellow journalist Faizan Lakhani gave me my accreditation card. Ur Rehman was also there, Abbas Shabbir and Ijaz Bakhri have also come from Pakistan. After sending some news, I rested. The next morning, while having breakfast, I saw various newspapers in restaurants and I remembered the late editor of Express, Tahir Najmi. When I went, I used to bring newspapers from there for them. After breakfast, I went to a mall in Bangalore and did some shopping there.

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Then came to the hotel and left for the stadium, the traffic was flowing on the streets around the stadium and people were entering their enclosures walking on the footpath, I was pleasantly surprised to see a fan dressed in a Pakistani team shirt. When I talked to him, he told me that he belongs to Bangalore and is supporting Pakistan because it is a neighboring country. When I went a little further, someone called me by name. I was surprised, that boy was wearing an Indian shirt. He said that he watches my videos on “Cricket Pakistan”.

He also said that Babar Azam selects the team in friendship, so the performance of the Pakistan team is not good. Another gentleman came wearing a green shirt. are supporting both teams, some of the fans there had painted their faces green and white, outside the stadium some people were selling Australia and India shirts for 250 rupees, many young Warner, Smith and Others were seen wearing shirts with their names.

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At one place I also saw a ticket seller in black, although the stadium was not full but still a large number of fans arrived, I also met Waqar Younis at the time of eating, although it was only 20-22 overs at that time. Waqar Younis predicted that more than 350 runs will be scored, everyone knows that the pitch of Chinnaswamy Stadium is very favorable for batting and the boundaries are also small.

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Despite this, Babar Azam won the toss and made a surprising decision to allow Australia to bat, after which David Warner dropped the catch at the start, then both made a great partnership, when the first wicket fell. The song “Dil Dil Pakistan” was played but the sound was very low, the fans supported the Australian batters well, Warner Warner chants were also heard, it is an ICC event, so the arrangements in the stadium are very good, Australia played Pakistani bowlers. Hit well and made 367 runs, now I’m going to drink tea, anyway the words are too much, Inshallah I will tell you the rest tomorrow.

(Note: You can follow me on Twitter @saleemkhaliq)