MLA Arun Kumar Sinha watches the match with his wife in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, March 30: When cricket fans across the country struck work to watch the India-Pakistan semi-final match at Mohali, our politicians, too, padded up, literally, to cheer the Men in Blue.

The Assembly session started at 9am and ended an hour before the start of the match, at 1pm.

While most legislators stayed at home to see the match with their families, some visited friends’ place to cheer the team en masse.

Arun Kumar Sinha, BJP MLA from Kumhrar Assembly seat, switched to match mode to watch the game with his wife Rekha. He was padded up like a batsman, sporting a bat in hand. Totally engrossed in the match, he jumped on his seat every time the Pakistan players missed a chance to claim Tendulkar’s wicket.

Sinha said: “My heart almost stopped beating when Sachin was given out in the 11th over. But thanks to the new rules of the ICC, where players can review the umpire’s decision, Sachin survived. Most of us sought an early adjournment of the House so that so we could see Tendulkar bat. Had he got out early, it would have been a big disappointment for all of us.”

In his innings of 85, the Master Blaster got as many as six chances before getting caught out on the ball of Wahab Riaz in the 37th over.

Most of Sinha’s fellow legislators were in a hurry to leave the Assembly premises early on Wednesday. Labour minister Janardan Singh Sigriwal said: “We are very thankful to Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary for letting us leave early. I am a great fan of the game. I am very sad that Yuvraj Singh was bowled out for a duck. I had a lot of expectations from him as he had batted extremely well in the previous matches. I think this is where a real hero stands out. When you need to perform and you don’t, it is very upsetting.”

Dinesh Kumar Singh, the RJD MLA from Jagdishpur Assembly seat, said: “India-Pakistan matches are always exciting. I am not bothered about victory or defeat. All I want is good and entertaining cricket. We got off early and it should not go in vain. Winning or losing is not important, the match should be worth watching. After all it’s just a game, not war. I will watch the match peacefully, without any tension.”

Rural development minister Nitish Mishra, who was watching the match at his official residence, disagreed with Singh. Mishra said: “A match between India and Pakistan is always like a war. Nobody can deny this fact. That is the reason it is called a high-voltage game and the whole nation comes to a standstill. It’s the same today. If it would have been some other game, I don’t think that the speaker would have announced an early adjournment of the session.”

Several MLAs had made the unprecedented demand to the speaker, requesting him to limit the last day of proceedings. The House session normally continues till 5pm every day. But today, pressure was mounted on the speaker to adjourn the Assembly during the match.

After all, it is not just any match. It is India vs Pakistan!