When Pakistan toured India after 12 years in 1999, Sachin Tendulkar’s fighting 136 in the fourth innings of the first Test at Chennai wasn’t enough for the hosts to take a 1-0 lead as the Pakistani bowlers cleaned up the Indian tail in no time and handed them a 12-run defeat. What happened after the match will go down as one of the most significant gestures in the rivalry between both the teams.
The Pakistan players were celebrating and were shocked to see the people in the stands applauding them continuously and giving the winning team a standing ovation too. As a token of appreciation, the visitors took a victory lap around the ground. It was this particular incident that gave the Chennai fans the tag - “knowledgeable Chennai crowd”.
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The Chennai crowd is one of the very few groups in the world to appreciate the efforts put in by the opposition teams and acknowledge the players whenever they get a chance. A similar instance took place in the recently concluded fifth Test between India and England where the Chennai crowd found a new favourite in England batsman Jos Buttler.
Buttler’s on-field antics gave him thousands of new fans in the city. It all started at the fag end of day 2 when Buttler first came to the square boundary on one side of the ground. The crowd cheered him whenever he turned his head, clapped with him when he cheered up his bowler before bowling and booed whenever England skipper Alastair Cook called Buttler in to field in a different position.
Whenever Buttler kept his hands on his head to rue a close call, the crowd did the same thing along with him. The fans kept Buttler engaged throughout and vice-versa.
The crowd also shouted, “We want Buttler... We want Buttler...” when a different fielder came to field in that position and continued to do whatever Buttler did irrespective of where he fielded. The love story between the crowd and Buttler continued on day 3 and even day 4 until England left the field. The Englishman too acknowledged the crowd on a few occasions.
England lost the match by an innings and 75 runs as their batsmen were clueless against Ravindra Jadeja, who picked up his best bowling figures of 7-48 and ended their first leg of the tour with a 4-0 drubbing in the five-match Test series. Here are some more videos of the interaction between the crowd and Buttler.
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