Empty stadium, deserted roads, packed hotels: How Dharamsala watched the India-Pakistan game

A breezy Saturday morning on the hill station of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh brought with it torrential rains and hailstorm resulting in roads being blocked, as a result of which people on their way to work found themselves struck on the road for hours. A few of them had assembled at Trivedi tea stall to watch replays of television highlights of the last India-Pakistan encounter in Asia cup, where captain MS Dhoni’s stroke thrashing the boundary line drove the men in blue to victory.

Dharamsala’s picturesque cricket stadium was earlier scheduled to host Saturday’s world cup tie between India and Pakistan which was later moved to Kolkata over objections by the Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh over hosting the match with Pakistan in his state. On Saturday morning, even as the match was still 12 hours and some 2,000 kilometres away, there was no drop in the excitement.

Angad Sharma, owner of the stall kept brewing tea and took time out to point out that Pakistan has never been able to defeat India in T20s in the world championship. He was confident that the tradition would continue.

Meanwhile, Puneet Nanda, a tourist from Delhi offered another statistical tidbit to the freewheeling conversation. “But the match is happening at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and Pakistan has never lost a T20 or One Day International there to India,” he explained.

Something had got to give.

Early excitement

Even as rains delayed the match in Kolkata, which started an hour later than its scheduled time of 7.30 pm, Dharamsala’s roads which are full of tourists over the weekend had started to become deserted early in the evening. The action had shifted to electronic stores flaunting large screen TVs which were tuned to sports channels throughout the day. And hotel receptions where travellers had gathered to catch the live updates, as the suspense and tension over the match mounted.

At one such hotel reception, the lobby was cleared and adorned with chairs duly occupied by men of all ages and classes. The owner, who identified himself as Rahim Ashraf, said that there was full occupancy at the hotel because travellers who had booked their tickets in anticipation of the match did not cancel their visit.

“The weather here is so good that people still chose to come here and now we don’t have even as single bed empty,” he said. Ashraf added that the large screen television kept on a makeshift stand made with a chair from the restaurant was actually hired for the evening.

“We paid Rs 1000 to get this TV on rent for the day,” Ashraf said, while pointing to the hotel’s much smaller 14-inch TV-set lying unused on his desk.

Soft drinks and snacks continued to be served to the hotel guests and bystanders who took the liberty of entering and trying to squeeze themselves in a three-seater sofa set that was already over-crowded with five people. Meanwhile, MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to field on a sticky pitch that had been under the covers throughout the day.

Politics, not cricket

“If it can rain in Kolkata for the whole day, why is Dharamsala unsuited to hold the big event?” asked Manish Pandey, a 18-year-old school student from Shimla. “I had planned to watch the match here with my friends and now we have all come here to at least enjoy the weather and ask about refunds of our tickets.”

Pandey then switched on his smartphone and showed us a picture of the stack of 11 tickets he had bought for the match. Amit Rathore, a nearby shopkeeper, meanwhile brought cigarettes and bidis for everyone as soon as Raina and Bumrah sent the two openers back in quick succession.

“We had planned to distribute sweets on the streets if the match was allowed to happen here at our cricket ground,” Rathore told Scroll. “Who cares who wins the match? It would have been a matter of pride for us that the two countries with a fierce rivalry are playing the game but the politicians can’t bear the thought.”

Pakistan stumbled through the innings with few and far bright spots in their innings as they ended up with a respectable total of 119 for India to chase.

“This fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress has destroyed everything,” Rathore continued. Asked to explain, he said that he believed that the incumbent Congress government in Himachal Pradesh had objected to the match only because the BJP is in power.

“BJP’s Anurag Thakur is in a commanding position at the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] and he had planned it all through to counter Congress’ objection. But we never imagined that he would shift the game out of Dharamsala,” Pandey added.

Many were amused as conspiracy theories were spun and woven about the chief minister and the Centre’s ulterior motives for shifting the venue.

Triumph of cricket

At a nearby electronics showroom, meanwhile, locals who were rushing to their homes had gathered to watch at least a few first power play overs of India chasing down a manageable target of 119 runs in 18 overs.

“We pull down the shutter at 10 pm every night but the match has just begun,” the owner remarked while sipping his drink surrounded by a few men wrapped in shawls on the cold evening. “The weather in Dharamsala would have been perfect for such a game today. It rained so much in the morning and the breeze would also give some swing to the bowlers,” he said, while lamenting about the fact that Dhoni gave Ashwin only three overs out of his designated four.

Soon enough, Rohit Sharma’s early departure off a loose shot brought the stadium and the showroom to silence as spectators keenly watched the next few overs of the run-chase.

“I am so excited about the world cup that I went for the Australia-New Zealand game yesterday,” a bystander remarked. “It only cost Rs 750 and if they had let this match happen here, Dharamsala would have become more famous and there would be thousands of people on the road even at this time.”

While the compatriots agreed, Yuvraj Singh had hit the ball over the midwicket boundary furthering India’s chances of clinching the game which once threatened to go down to the wire as India’s run rate slowed during the middle after quick wickets. Singh departed quickly while Dhoni led the run chase with Kohli and kept Indian hopes alive.

Meanwhile, tea continued to be poured in cups at the tea stall as it drizzled around 11 pm in Dharamsala as only a couple of more runs were needed. Dhoni hit the penultimate shot of the game with his hallmark six down the ground and took India to the brink of victory with 13 balls to spare.

“We have kept the unbeaten record alive,” the owner quipped while downing his shutter for the night.