SRK is Indian cricket's lucky mascot

It was Saturday night fever all right.

Only, the venue was Brabourne Stadium and not a swish nightclub and the guests were thousands of Indian cricket fans, who had come to see T20 World Champs India get their sweet revenge (and sweet it sure was!) against Australia at the first international T20 match in India. So what if Team India lost the ODI series, this win camouflaged all the bitter memories of the past.

The stadium was packed (blue was the most seen colour in the stands), the mood was electric and the DJ did a terrific job of playing the right music at the right time. Needless to say, ‘Chak De’ was the most played song, but there was a good mix of ‘Dhoom Machale,’ ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom,’ ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ and in the second last over of the match, ‘The Heat is On.’ And believe us, it couldn’t have gotten hotter!

Of course, the focus was on our Boys In Blue (We want a six, the crowd shouted to Yuvraj, while Gambhir got a standing ovation for his match-winning 63), but when cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Ravi Shastri, Bollywood hotties Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone and political heavyweights like Rahul Gandhi and brother in law Robert Vadra are sitting in the pavilion, it’s obvious that the crowds want to get their celebrity dose as well.

And the cameras willingly obliged. But on Saturday, one couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to SRK and Deepika’s presence there than met the eye.

Just to refresh those cricket-loaded memories, King Khan (looking super hot) was the only Indian celebrity who specially flew to Johannesburg to support Team India and watch the final of the T20 World Cup, live.

Our Boys in Blue came away shining then, and we did it again on Saturday. Makes you wonder if SRK is not just Bollywood’s, but also Indian cricket’s lucky mascot. Has the baazigar turned jadoogar?

Move over to the most-flashed woman on screen during the match no, it wasn’t a die-hard Dhoni fan, instead, it was actress Deepika Padukone. Recently, it was reported that Dhoni was charmed by Deepika (‘Dhoni’s bowled over by Deepika’), and that he has a huge crush on her. No wonder then that everytime
Deepika’s face flashed on the huge screens, the next image would be that of MS Dhoni. And vice-versa. Did we see a hint of red in their faces when that kept happening, or was it just Deepika’s make-up? Then again, what could explain Dhoni’s shy smile everytime he saw his ‘crush’ on screen?
‘Crush’ that was the operational word here, as India crushed the world champions to hold on to their T20 World Champion status. The phirang cheerleaders sure had a reason to dance the night away!

Nicole Dastur,TNN