The stalkage and the match
Right ... 27th March, Taj Palace hotel: Two of my friends (let's call them A and J) and I decided to go stalking. Both came to my house and we got all nicely dressed (it was a five star hotel after all) and headed out at about 6:45pm. We sat in the lobby for a while. A and I ordered stuff to drink. Suddenly there was lots of commotion and we all looked up to see what was happening.
The entire Indian team walked past ... Kaif, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Sreesanth, Munaf etc. And following them, right at the end, was Rahul Dravid. Two things struck me about Dravid: a) He is much, much taller than I thought he was and ...
b) He's hot! Really he is.
All was quiet for a while when suddenly everybody ran towards the check-in counter. Being the dignified ladies that we are, we chose to remain seated and look on at the proceedings with a slightly amused look on our faces. At that point I got a call from my mother, so while talking to her, I casually strolled towards the check-in counter to see what the fuss was all about. But sadly, it turned out to be Greg Chappell.
Anyhow, after a while, I saw a whole lot of Englishmen heading to the bar. So we decided to shift base and went towards the bar but were told that it was full. While my friends were talking to the waiter there, I suddenly saw Geraint Jones sitting in the coffee shop, having dinner. And at the next table was Freddie. So after sufficient gesticulating to my friends, we went into the coffee shop and haggled for a table close to that of the cricketers. I chose a strategically placed seat, so that I could see them properly.
They were eating, so we didn't go up and ask for pictures and autographs like I had done with the Aussies and Kiwis in 2003. But here are the observations I made about them in the 2 hours I spent staring at them:
Geraint Jones: is extremely ickle. Very cute. Wanted to jump him. Looked depressed all evening and hardly ate or spoke. Wanted desperately to cuddle him.
Freddie Flintoff: eats like a monster - went to the buffet table like 4 times. Ate lots and lots of prawns. Grins hugely and looks very good when he does so. Needs to buy new jeans cos' honestly the faded jeans look doesn't work. Looked terribly nervous all evening.
Kevin Pietersen: Also eats like a monster. Has huuuge earrings, which were blinding me. Looked the most relaxed of the lot. Ate alot and laughed alot and talked on his phone alot.
Paul Collingwood: The quietest of them all. Wore a pink shirt and didn't say a word all evening. Sat quietly at the table while everyone else around him kept talking. Didn't eat much either.
And I think it was Matt Prior who sat opposite Fred. Not much to say about him except that he's not very pretty. All of them drank non alcoholic drinks unless the cokes and orange juices were spiked. And all of them except Geraint left the restaurant by 9:00 pm like good boys and went to their rooms. Geraint just sat there, with a couple of other people (dunno who they were) and stared into space.
Incident of the night: J had invited a few friends to this stalking expedition. Two of the guys(Indians) had flown down from London just to see the match. So they go outside for a smoke and decide that they must have their picture taken in front of the team hotel. They see this young lad standing near by and ask him to take their picture. He's like okay. How do you want it? Horizontal or vertical etc. He takes the picture. After he does, another guy standing there asks these two guys - " Do you know who that was?" And they're like -" No. Who is he?" And this guy's like- " He's Kabir Ali. He plays for England."
LMAO!! I laughed so hard when they told us. Fantastic stuff. Anyhow, we packed up at about 9:30 and left.
28th March, Feroze Shah Kotla ground: A spent the night. We woke up at 5:30 am. Got ready sleepily and A ate some sandwiches. Dad had tea. J arrived at 6:20 and we all set off for the ground at about 6:45. Managed to somehow drive through the massive number of people, without running anyone over. The parking lot was right next to the seats we had. I was so excited and was bouncing around all over the place. We got to our seats and there was this loud music playing. So we all sang along and watched the Indians and Brits stretch. It was marvellous *giggles*
Can't be arsed to describe the whole match except to say that it was bloody fantastic! I had a fabuluos time. Freddie's sixes were magnificent. The atmosphere was brilliant and we won!!! That was damn cool. I was sad that Hoggy didn't play. Though I did see him on the field with his pretty hair gleaming in the sun *pets him*
KP's earrings were glinting in the sun. GJ kept wrinkling his nose. I think he put too much sun block. All in all, it was great!! I came back with a sore arse, aching feet, a completely sore throat and developed fever today. But I had sooooo much fun!!!