Mohali: The International Cricket Council’s World Cup media guide compares Mohali with Dubai - stating that this satellite town of Chandigarh is developing into a sports hub in the region on the lines of Dubai Sports City. Apart from the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium, there is an international hockey stadium and a state-of-the-art golf academy.
Opposite the PCA stadium is the Punjab Institute of Sports.
Though people here are passionate about cricket, other sports like hockey and golf too have a huge following. International cricketers love to play golf at the Chandigarh Golf Club, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Ravi Shastri were at this famous venue on Friday. Photographers and reporters followed Dhoni for a comment on his love for golf, but the Indian skipper refused to talk, stating he is not supposed to say anything.
Dhoni is the most wanted man after his great show against Bangladesh, with social media discussing his final dash with the ball to run out Mustafizur Rahman in minute detail. According to one version, Dhoni was standing 13 metres from the stumps while Mustafizur was 19 metres away from the batting crease as Dhoni gathered the ball. Dhoni, apparently, took only three seconds and eight steps to beat Mustafizur - who had the advantage of his extended bat too.
Two cricketers that the fans from this city adore are former Indian captain Kapil Dev and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Many are hoping that Harbhajan finds a place in the India XI against Australia.
Like in Kolkata, where newspapers splash whatever is said by Sourav Ganguly, here the same happens with Kapil.
So Kapil’s comment on Virat Kohli that ‘The more I look at Kohli, I am convinced that he is a step ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, Viv Richards, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting’ is the talk of the town.
Whatever it is, Kohli is likely to break all records soon for the highest-earning cricketer. Right now he endorses 13 brands, including Pepsi, MRF, Audi and Tissot.
With so much non-cricket related earnings, cricketers hardly need to take up another job to cement their living, unlike hockey players. So it was perhaps no surprise that India’s two renowned hockey players Gagan Ajit Singh and Rajpal Singh were in charge of security at the PCA stadium. Gagan is the Superintendent of City Police and Rajpal is Deputy Superintendent Police of City Traffic.
Pakistan fans had turned up in large numbers for their team’s match against Australia on Friday. They chanted ‘Pakistan jeetega’ (Pakistan will win) till the last over. During the matches in Sharjah, the slogan used to be ‘if it is Friday it has to be Pakistan’. As Pakistan kept losing wickets, an Indian fan waved a placard: “It’s not a good Friday for Pakistan.”
Now the focus here is on the India-Australia match on Sunday. Almost all advertisements and hoardings in and around the city are about this match. And given the growing number of heath-conscious residents in this city, a fitness centre has advertised that should India beat Australia, anyone taking membership the next day can avail of a discount of Rs 19,000 (Dh1,044)!
