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May 27, 2006

Posted by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan on 05/27/2006

It just takes one missile ...





West Indian fans always find something to cheer about © AFP
32nd over of the West Indies innings. Yuvraj Singh to Lara, back of a length delivery outside off, glided to third man delectably. Harbhajan and Raina give chase. As they near the boundary line, a yellow object is hurled from someone in the bottom tier of the Cyril L Duprey stand. Raina is mortified; Harbhajan has a puzzled look. Play is held up for a couple of minutes, Dravid has a word with the umpire and security personnel try and hunt out the culprit.

It was an unfortunate blackmark in a series that's witnessed some outstanding crowd behaviour. Watching cricket in the West Indies is like being amid a giant party and, despite all their banter and sledging, the crowds have shown a deep understanding of the game. Dhoni may not get the cheers he does in India but there's a wave of anticipation whenever he strides out to the crease. Sehwag's clattering at St Kitts was applauded, as were a number of other efforts.

The spirit has been a far cry from what West Indies experienced when they toured India in 2002. The game at Rajkot had to be stopped because of bottles being thrown into the playing area and other games were affected by unruly behaviour as well.

This series has seen sporting crowds in all three venues so far, and the West Indies side have duly acknowledged it by taking a victory lap after their triumphs. One such stray incident usually destroys all the good work. It was the first such. Hopefully it will be the last.

 
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