For a cricket-obsessed country like India, love for the game transcends boundaries: sometimes literally boundary fences. The pleasure of watching one’s favourite stars in flesh and blood is an experience of its own, but some overzealous fans take it a step too far.
Suresh Raina might have last played an ODI for India in 2015, his fortunes and his popularity might have spiralled downwards, but there are still lots of ardent fans of the southpaw who still swear by his inside-out drives over the covers, or his trademark swipes to midwicket.
One of his fanatic fans, seated in the Green Park stadium and watching Raina captain the Gujarat Lions side against Delhi Daredevils, decided to meet his hero in person. With the Daredevils busy in their pursuit of 196, and Raina in the field managing his troops on the field, the fan leapt through the fences, evaded security guards, and managed to reach Raina, a pen and his match ticket in either hand.
You can watch the incident here by scrolling to 03:46:52 on the timer.
It happened during the fourth over of the chase, just after Karun Nair had creamed Pradeep Sangwan over the covers for a boundary. Before Sangwan could bowl the next delivery, there was a rousing cheer for the fans, as Rinku, wearing an orange jersey that had ‘Raina’ and ‘3’ written behind, zeroed in on the India batsman.
He fell on his knees, imploring Raina to give him an autograph. Raina then instructed his young fan to leave, and was joined by the on-field umpire who showed him the way out.
The commentator on-air quipped “If that was in Australia, they would padlock, scruff him by his neck and drag him out, maybe tackle him”.
The fan admitted that he had planned on jumping into the ground beforehand, and had even informed his friends about his daring act: “I wanted to congratulate him for his superb fielding at slips, which led to the departure of Rishabh Pant. I tried meeting Raina at the team hotel but couldn’t succeed despite making a number of attempts. I had my first interaction with him a few years ago during a Ranji game. Even today when I shook hands with him, I tried to remind him of our first meeting”, he told Hindustan Times.
He might not have a BCCI central contract, might have also missed the England boat to the Champions Trophy, but Raina, especially in Uttar Pradesh, is still a major star attraction.
Also read: Watch: Fan falls at MS Dhoni's feet during India A-England warm-up match
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