LOOK WHERE CALCUTTA WAS LOOKING WHEN INDIA BATtLED SRI LANKA
PORTRAIT OF MALL AS MAIDAN: 7.10pm, Sunday. A packed-to-the-rafters South City is less a mall and more a cricket stadium. India has just taken the field. Roaaar. Virat Kohli’s face flashes on the giant screen. Rooooooaaaaaaar. A young boy walks in, the Indian flag wrapped around his head, and is swallowed by the sea of supporters. Jeetega bhai jeetega India jeetega. Kohli walks out to bat. Roooooooooaaaaaaaaaar. Each stroke is greeted with deafening cheers, as if willing each stroke to the boundary. Sartak Periwal knows it’ll be his hero’s day. “Kohli will score 70-plus!” says the 14-year-old, even before Virat has crossed the 50 mark. His hero does score 70-plus but, sadly, it is not to be his day.
SHHHHHHHHH AT SHISHA: At 9.30pm, with Sri Lanka 75 for 3, there is still hope at the 22 Camac Street nightclub. The party crowd is glued to the screens. Hookah and pizza, whisky and T20! The crowd is still jiving to the thumping music between overs. Then, Kumar Sangakkara starts firing. Cries of “pakad, pakad” give way to “Chalo ghar chalo” and then to deathly silence. Brothers Avinash Bhaniramka and Shirish Poddar have been let down by the two totems of India’s World Cup 2011 victory — man of that tournament Yuvraj Singh and their lucky India jerseys! “I plan to throw this jersey away right now,” grumbled Shirish.
JUST CHILL AT CHILI’S: The Tex-Mex restaurant in Quest mall is showing the final on nine screens, but hardly anyone is watching the Sri Lankan run chase. Mehul Kumar Das is glued to the game on his mobile phone. “I don’t like watching cricket and I don’t know the score!” smiles the 13-year-old boy from Siliguri. His son’s disinterest and his team’s dismal performance have not given dad Manas Kumar Das much reason to smile. “The younger generation is moving out of cricket… not good,” says the doctor, who while visiting Calcutta with wife and son decided to come to Chili’s to watch the big match over Sunday dinner.
UNITED COLOURS OF CRICKET: A group of Trinamul Congress workers skipped their evening campaign on Sunday and sat in a huddle inside their Harish Mukherjee Road party office (picture left) — not to discuss poll strategy but to watch the India vs Sri Lanka final. “We finished two rounds of poll processions in the morning and painted some wall graffiti in the afternoon. But by evening, all of us were at the party office to watch the match,” said Bablu Singh, the president of Trinamul Congress block no. 71. The party leaders did not mind. “During such an important match even the voters would not have liked to be disturbed by our campaigning,” said a senior Trinamul leader from south Calcutta. Not far away, on Pratapaditya Road off Rashbehari (picture right), BJP supporters had created a Team India dugout with a television on the footpath against the backdrop of a wall graffiti seeking votes for Calcutta South candidate Tathagata Roy. The supporters were without any party flag or slogan. “We wanted people from the locality to gather here and watch the match together. That is the best form of campaign right now. And yes, there are supporters from other parties too who are here,” said Naveen Pandey, a BJP party worker.
Text: Saionee Chakraborty and Tamaghna Banerjee Pictures: Pabitra Das and Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Tushita Bose, 16, is a self-proclaimed “mad” Virat Kohli fan. She studies in Class XII at Ram Mohan Mission High School in Lake Gardens. She started watching cricket because of Kohli and stops speaking with anyone at home who criticises him. She keeps a scrapbook where she pens little messages to him and has more photos of him than herself on her cell phone. Here’s her Kohli commentary during and after the T20 World Cup final.

Virat Kohli won. India lost. He scored the most runs, he took a crucial catch and he was sporting enough to walk up to (Kumar) Sangakkara and shake his hand after his 50, even when India was on the verge of defeat.

That’s why he is my hero.

I had been praying since morning that Virat Kohli would do everything right and that’s exactly what he came up with. But in the end, it was still heartbreak for me as India finished second best in Sunday’s final of the ICC T20 World Cup.

I was also sad that Kohli didn’t get a century.

He was brilliant at the crease as he battled single-handedly. He was in scintillating form and his self-belief shone through.

The shots were so crisp and he was looking so handsome playing them. Well, he always does.

My heart was in my mouth when (Lasith) Malinga could not hold on to a catch. But it also told me that this was his day. And it was. Well, almost.

He scored 77 runs off just 58 balls at a strike rate of 133 per cent but the rest of the team managed only 47 runs off 62 balls, which is why India were in such dire straits.

The most disappointing part was that when he was really set and raring to go, he did not get the strike. In the last four overs, he just faced eight balls out.

As far as I was concerned, it was because of Yuvraj’s (Singh) slow innings that India lost.

He was unable to even rotate the strike, which is why Kohli didn’t get his century despite playing so well and India didn’t get a decent score.

Virat is the only reason why I watch cricket.

I started following the game after I saw him in an Under-19 World Cup game way back in 2008. I liked him so much that I started watching cricket regularly. I wanted to watch him and also understand the game he is so passionate about.

I love my city but I love him so much that I support Royal Challengers Bangalore, not Kolkata Knight Riders, in IPL.

I have my lucky seat and my lucky posture when he is playing and I maintained all that today and he played like a dream. But, sadly, he was let down by the team.