In the stands, too, Indians maintain the mental edge

However, the windfall for the Indian fans has turned out to be agony for the home crowd, which had been waiting to celebrate idolised skipper Steve Waugh’s farewell in fitting fashion ever since the announcement of retirement by Australia’s most successful captain ever.

In the sweltering sun at the SCG, almost 90,000 fans paid more than $2 million over the first two days to watch Waugh but it was not to be.

Dignitaries including Australian Prime Minister John Howard and the Waugh family also waited for a fitting moment as it was generally expected that the captain would get to bat at least on the second day.

In the stands, while the Australian fans booed and even threw plastic cups after tea on the ground yesterday, frustrated by their team’s poor fielding and dropped catches, they were also generous with loud applause at every classic shot and records set by the Indian batsmen.

As this correspondent was driving out of the ground, a group of youth clad in the Australian national colours stopped to give thumbs up saying, “Sachin is the king. He is great”.

For some Australian-Indians, it has been a tough match “emotionally”.

“While I want India to do well, I also want Steve to have a great farewell innings. One feels torn apart between loyalty to the home country and the adopted country,” says Rekha Bhattacharjee, who migrated to Australia over 30 years ago.

A Cricket Australia accredited coach and umpire Yogendra Bhatnagar, who moved here from Roorkee 14 years ago, says, “My feelings are with India and watching this match has been certainly my best experience in any sport.

“When they came here, Indians were the underdogs. I always cheer for them as it is easier to relate to the Indian culture than the cut-throat, aggressive psyche of the Australians.”

The Australian media was replete with headlines like, “Indian pair puts torch to fairytale”, “Steve’s show, but Sachin pulls strings”, “Fans lament as Waugh story defies the script”, “It wasn’t meant to be like this” and “Magician maintains batting spell”. Trevor Marshallsea writes in The Age, “Steve Waugh’s hopes of a winning swan song were as slim as the bats of Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were broad after the pair went on a record-smashing run to turn the Australian captain’s farewell into a match of misery.”

“(VVS) Laxman’s ‘wagon wheel’ resembled the Ashok Chakra in the middle of India’s flag, with as many spokes as there were places on the field,” said the writer.(PTI)