Sports
Rip-roaring atmosphere for FIFA U-17 World Cup final
Kolkata, Oct 28 (IANS) ‘India is Now A Football Country’ flashed displays and banners as over 60,000 football fans gathered at the Salt Lake Stadium here for a rip-roaring start to the FIFA U-17 World Cup final between England and Spain, the most attended in the history of the tournament. England won 5-2.
Sporting headbands, bandanas and sports gear in colours reflecting allegiance to their respective teams (red, yellow for Spain; white for England), a full house of die-hard fans threw their weight behind their favourite soccer stars with raucous cheers and thunderous applause.
Despite splotches of Brazilian yellow and green spotted outside the stadium, the arena presented a divided house for Spain’s tiki taka versus quick passing English play.
Posters of England’s pin-up boy Rhian Brewster and Spaniard Sergio Gomez stood out in the throng.
Supporters of Indian giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan too attended the match donning jerseys of their beloved clubs.
Mukul Mudgal, who headed the IPL 2013 spot-fixing probe, former Indian cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla and former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly joined in the gala event while football giants including Wayne Rooney pitched in via social media.
Former England football team captain Rooney tweeted: “Good luck to @England U17’s in the #FIFAU17WC final today. Make history lads ??????.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and FIFA officials added to the VIP presence.
–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.