Rehman Zaid is from Muscat and Fatima comes from Oman. They waited for hours to catch a glimpse of the Indian superstar cricketers here to change reality of a long -held dream. Rarely fans of such cricket -outside posts see Indian players up close, but once they got the chance, the supporters returned home with some precious memorabilia. There were of course fans from India, but among 200 supporters who were collected on the ICC Cricket Academy were Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Oman, the UK and the US – usually of Indian descent.
The Indian team members were here on Monday evening for a training session of almost three hours prior to their Champions Trophy Opener against Bangladesh on February 20.
Wasted with little time, they put the photos and videos of the cricketers on their phones, just 5 meters away and only separated by a barricade and a few security staff.
“We came from Oman. We will watch a few matches from India. We are quite happy that we had such a chance to see the cricketers so close, “said Zaid, who came with his family of four.
The fans waited for the Netto session of India to pass by and tried to click on it again.
However, the cricketers, who quickly came to the team bus, found some time to sign a few signatures, much to the delight of the fans.
The 17-year-old Fatima managed to get the Shreyas Iyer's board on a T-shirt and she was happy.
“I'm so happy. I am so grateful to ICC that we have shown and communicate ourselves so close to the Indian cricketers. I managed to get the signature on the T-shirt.
“This is so unreal. I saw virat. He came and drew it for me and for others. He is so nice and great. I just missed Shami's signature, “she said.
As you would expect, the loudest cheers was reserved for Kohli, a crowd of pulling power where he also goes.
Now they are planning to return to see their heroes again on 20 and 23 February for the games against Bangladesh and Pakistan respectively.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
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