World Cup 2023: For Netherlands vs Pakan in Hyderabad, a dash of orange and a splash of support for Babar Azam | Cricket-world-cup News

In the sweltering forenoon heat, a Dutchman and his Indian wife would become instant celebrities. Wolmar Welterop and Pragya were searching for their entry gate, when a bunch of curious teenagers swarmed them, much to their amusement. “I have never experienced something like this before,” says Wolmar, in a semi-shocked and semi-puzzled state. In a blur, they were selfied and photographed, before a gaggle of local broadcast journals barged, walking along with them.
Little did Wolmar, who works as a company consultant in Dubai, know that an all-orange costume (barring the white shirt) would garner eyeballs in a city that loves its colours. The skinny-fit trousers and the wide-brimmed hat were all orange-splashed. As was the rim of his overlarge spectacles. His wife was more soberly-attired but with an orange bandana and an orange plastic garland. “I never thought my first experience of watching a cricket match would be this eventful, and we have not entered the stadium,” he says.
Neither are cricket tragics or even sports freaks. Wolmar says he does not even watch Dutch football. “But when I heard that the Netherlands are playing in India and our friend, who works in ICC offered us tickets, we thought ‘why not?’ and packed our bags. We always wanted to spend some time in the country. I have been Wikipedia-ing about both the sport and the country in the last few days,” he says, as their friend suddenly appears and pulls them from before a larger crowd notices them.

Orange was perhaps the most ubiquitous shade in the stadium, but not necessarily in a show of allegiance to the Dutch team. Many came wearing the orange and brown shirts of local IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. Most of the plastic seats were either red or orange, blending effortlessly with the orange-soda orange of the Dutch shirt. There was a large brownish orange flag, with words Dazzling Dutch embossed on it, one of the hired cheerleaders waved. There was one for Pakan too—Pakan is Shaan.
It took little time for the Dutch to become the crowd favourites. The afternoon had begun with the audience cheering for Pakan. Every time they struck a boundary, a ripple of applause fizzed in the arena, still half empty. There was an understandable frenzy around Babar Azam, a contemporary batting mogul. A girl had painted a Pakan flag on her face and “Babar” written underneath it. A youngster was prancing in the stands holding aloft a collage of Babar’s picture, yelling at the top of his voice behind Pakan’s dug out to draw his attention. A fleeting gaze from Babar was enough for him to leap in joy, though his joy was cut short a stiff-mustachioed policeman, ordering him to curb his enthusiasm.Most Read
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The Pakan captain could not light up the crowd, as he was uncharacterically jumpy, struggling for timing, straining to judge the length, going for false shots. The crowd would gasp and clasp their hands in dismay. But suddenly, when he mimed a pull off Colin Ackermann and perished, to the muttering disgust of the crowd, they suddenly began to cheer for the Dutch.

A particular crowd favorite turned out to be Bas de Leede, the medium pacer who grabbed four wickets and produced a peach to nail Mohammed Rizwan. The latter was bowled, looking to flick it, across the stumps, only for the ball to tail back sharply. There were three Indian-origin players in the side — Aryan Dutt, Vikramjeet Singh and Teja Nidamanuru, who was born in Vijayawada, a city six hours from Hyderabad — but they showered affection more on one of the only two Dutchmen in the team. His long, blonde hair flapping in the run-up. the spectators would begin to clap when he began, the palm-orchestrated background score exaggerating his menace.

But when Pakan began to implode, at one stage 188 for six, support returned for them. And vice versa when the Dutch began to lose wickets.“We always support the team in trouble,” explains Vikram, a software engineer, who wanted to experience watching a non-India game. “I wanted to get that neutral feel. Perhaps I could appreciate Babar and Afridi and Rauf more objectively. I came predominantly to watch Pakan cricketers. But in the end, I liked some of the Dutchmen too. They showed a lot of character and courage,” he added.
The names that were unfamiliar till the game started would be rolling off more smoothly from their tongues the time they emptied out of the stadium. And perhaps Wolmar would have familiarised himself with the game that is a subcontinental obsession too.