Wherever Bangladesh played away from home they always enjoyed some support from the gallery, mostly from the expatriate community. In India there are hardly any expatriates. Yet, the Tigers felt no lack of support, thanks to a group of young Bangladeshis, who travelled all the way from Dhaka to Dharamsala under the banner of Bangladesh Cricket Supporters Association. Utpal Shuvro, a widely travelled senior journalist confirmed that this is for the first time such a group of fans visited in a foreign land just to support the national cricket team of Bangladesh. I met this group of 19 at Hotel Omni in McLeod Ganj, a suburb of Dharamsala better known for the headquarters of exiled Tibetan government. They invited few of us to have a dinner, where among others Bangladesh Cricket Board director Ahmed Sazzadul Alam attended. Zunaid Paiker, the leader of the group, said it was an interesting journey from Dhaka to Dharamsala, which started on March 5 and ended on March 8. ‘A total of 22 of us had applied for the visa. But only 19 could manage it. Most of us are student, so we came with a low budget,’ said Paiker, also the president of BCSA, who works for an NGO. ‘We started by a bus from Dhaka and then reached to Delhi by train from Kolkata. From Delhi we came to a place called Pathankot, which is two hours away from Dharamsala. People welcomed us all the way. On our way to Delhi, a local man even wrote a poem in our honour.’ Paikar said their stay in Dharamsala was no less interesting. ‘Before the first match local police looked puzzled when they saw us chanting slogan. They had no clue what do with the puppet tiger we were carrying with us. The tiger had an electronic device placed inside to make it roar. Police took it to the scanner several times. Some police stayed away sensing this could be an explosive. Later we removed the device from the tiger and only then they allowed us inside,’ he said. ‘In the field we sang Amra Korbo Joy [the Bengali version of We Shall Overcome]. Some local people countered us with the hindi version of the song.’ Paikar said they were surprised by the hospitality offered to them by local Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association. ‘Today [Saturday] they took us to their office, presented us a large photograph of the stadium and a memento for each member of us. We took a group photograph inside the venue which was an amazing experience,’ he said. Paikar said they have plans to make similar trips to other countries as well but added that they don’t want to limit their activities to it like English Barmy Army. ‘We have some other activities at home as well. Last year we arranged few cricket related programmes, published the biography of Mashrafee bin Murtaza. We will continue to arrange these programmes.’
-With New Age input
