By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
Kolkata : Veteran scorer-cum-statistician Sheikh Abdur Rahman is not just an expert at his job. He also keeps everyone in good humour with his jokes and cricketing anecdotes.
While keeping the score for the 105th Test match of his eventful career, Rahman, 58, won the hearts of the packed press box on the first day of the second India-Pakistan Test at the Eden Gardens here Friday by pressing a bell before loudly announcing the scores and updates.
“I have always carried this red bell with me. I ring this to alert people so that they can write down the scores and statistics properly,” Rahman, who has also done 106 One-Day Internationals, told IANS.
An office superintendent in the Sealdah Division of Eastern Railway, Rahman is keeping the score for the 21st Test at the Eden Gardens, his home ground.
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Lack of communication
Lack of communication among the security personnel deputed for the second Test at the Eden Gardens was starkly evident Friday. It posed problems for some of the people who came to watch the action with bags and mobile phones. The policemen asked some journalists to leave their bags and carry their laptops in hand while they did not even ask others to show their mobile phones, which are also banned at the ground.
Commissioner of Kolkata Police Goutam Mohan Chakrabarty had said before the match that journalists would be allowed to carry laptop bags as well as mobile phones. But on the first day of the Test police personnel posted at the main entrance seemed to forget what the commissioner had told them and had also announced to the media.
When a Pakistani journalist tried to bring his laptop bag inside the stadium, he was stopped at the gate. He then approached some senior local journalists and finally the policemen relented when they were reminded of their boss’s announcement.
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Kolkata crowd loud in support
The thousands of spectators who thronged the Eden Gardens on the first day of the second Test between India and Pakistan had plenty to cheer.
Loud applause greeted Rahul Dravid when reached his half-century. It was Dravid’s 49th half-century in the 114th Test of his illustrious career.
The crowd welcomed Sachin Tendulkar loudly when the maestro walked in to bat at the fall of Dravid’s wicket.
And then there was bigger applause when Wasim Jaffer completed his century.