An enthusiast watches a cricket match on TV. (AFP)

Patna, March 29: If Bihar’s residents are offering a prayer for Dhoni and his men, they are also making a silent plea for power to ensure they can watch the match uninterrupted.

Cricket fans, barring those living in the capital, may miss the live telecast of the India-Pakistan semi-final match, thanks to the reduced power allocation from the central sector. Patna, too, may experience one or two hours of powercut by rotation.

The state has been drawing around 600-900MW of electricity from the central sector schedule against the actual average supply of 1,200-1,400MW for the past 10 days.

The worst sufferers of poor power supply are the people living in the districts. They receive three to five hour’s supply, which is not even enough to even meet their daily chores, forget watching cricket matches.

Though poor power supply has spoilt their chance to watch the colossal match, there are people who are making special arrangements to catch the frenzy live on TV.

Rajiv Ranjan, an advocate who practices in Delhi High Court, told The Telegraph: “The power crisis has made our life miserable in recent days in Bhagalpur as the city barely gets four-five hours of supply a day. I have decided to stay at one of my relative’s house in the capital to see the match. From there, I will take a train or a flight for Delhi.”

Muzaffarpur

“Residents of the locality have decided to install a projector at Banaras Bank Chowk Park to watch the second innings of the match. We have pooled in Rs 800 to pay the projector owner,” said Zulfiqar Hussain, alias Jippu, a resident of Kamra Mohalla, adding that genset owners had provided the genset free of cost.

Bhagalpur

Bilash Kumar Bagchi, a primary schoolteacher and a cricket lover, has hired a generator. “Earlier too, I had to hire generator sets to enjoy important matches and each time I had to pay Rs 2,000-2,500 for it,” he said.

Motihari

Anup Kumar, Manoj Jaiswal and Pappu Shrivastava, the proprietors of Ashiana tent house, India tent house and Jagdamba tent house, said: “This is not the marriage season because of the ongoing phase of kharwans but we have to spare generator sets to meet the emergency requirement. All the generator sets have been booked for the India-Pakistan tie and the final on April 2, they added.

Gaya

Residents of Fatehganj have collected chanda (subscription) for a generator to watch the second semi-final. “Around 35 people will sit together to enjoy the game,” said Mukesh Dutt Tiwari, a resident of Fatehganj. Anand Talkies, a cinema hall has made arrangements to screen the match live on the big screen and all tickets have been booked in advance. Despite erratic power supply, cricket enthusiasts are determined to watch the game at any cost and they are making arrangements, added Dutt.

Purnea

President of Purnea Women Cricket Association Gotam Verma told The Telegraph that the association has made an alternative arrangement for a generator at Jaiprakash Nagar Colony, where people would be able to watch the match.

Chhapra

Three cinemas at Chhapra have made arrangements for people to watch the big match. Cricket fans have been invited to watch the match for tickets varying between Rs 25 and Rs 50. “This is like succour to the fans,” said a resident.