Rehman Zaid is from Muscat and Fatima is from Oman. They waited for hours to catch a glimpse of India’s superstar cricketers here to show a long-cherished dream into reality. Rarely fans from such cricketing outposts get to see Indian players up close, but once they got a probability the supporters returned home with some precious memorabilia. There have been fans from India, in fact, but among the many 200-plus supporters assembled on the ICC Cricket Academy were Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Oman, UK and USA residents – mostly of Indian origin.
The Indian team members were here on Monday evening for a virtually three-hour training session ahead of their Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh on February 20.
With little time wasted, they captured the cricketers’ pictures and videos on their phones, standing a mere 5 metres away and separated only by a barricade and a number of security personnel.
“We’ve come from Oman. We shall be watching a number of matches of India. We’re quite joyful that we got such a chance to see the cricketers from so close,” said Zaid, who has come along along with his family of 4.
The fans waited till India’s net session got over, and tried to click them over again.
The cricketers, who trooped into the team bus quickly, nonetheless, found a while to sign a number of autographs, much to the glee of the fans.
The 17-year-old Fatima managed to get Shreyas Iyer’s sign on a T-shirt, and she or he was delighted.
“I’m so joyful. I’m so grateful to ICC for allowing us to see and interact with the Indian cricketers from so close. I managed to get the autograph on the T-shirt.
“That is so unreal. I saw Virat. He got here and signed this one for me and for others. He’s so nice and wonderful. I just missed Shami’s autograph,” she said.
As one would expect, the loudest cheer was reserved for Kohli, a crowd puller wherever he goes.
Now, they plan to return to see their heroes once more on February 20 and 23 for the matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan respectively.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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