The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Green or red for Blues?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 24, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Green or red for Blues?

Special Correspondent

The city gears up for a long night to find out. Many are in no mood to stomach a defeat

EVER HOPEFUL!: A 15-foot tall edible cricket bat with names of the Indian cricket team and a cricket ball on display in Hyderabad on Friday. Three chefs laboured for 120 hours on this delicacy which consumed 200 kg icing sugar, 300 egg whites, 5 kg g elatin and 20 kg corn flour. — Photo: AFP

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad was on the edge. The months of waiting, the hours spent on team permutations and combinations and the zillion expectations were all reaching a crescendo albeit all too early.

Will India make it to the next round or was it on the edge of the elimination precipice? This was the question doing the rounds as entire Hyderabad trooped out to pubs and clubs for the big screen experience of Friday's crunch World Cup game.

The city stayed awake all night as the Indian Blues went through the litmus test. People trooped outside television stores while some chose the cosy confines of home to watch the suspense unfold. "All hell will break loose if we stumble at this juncture. It's a do or die battle," said Srikanth Rao, managing director, Santoshi Chit Funds, Ramanthapur and Sainath Dhatrak of Bajaj Alliance Insurance and a former `A' division league cricketer himself.

Pub owners, who were showing the late evening live telecast on big screen, fear a drop in expected revenue if India returns home. But Vinod Reddy, partner, Ten Downing Street, refused to even dread the thought of disaster. "I just cannot imagine India losing," he said.

"It will be a big disaster, business wise for companies investing tonnes of money on ads and more importantly emotionally for the millions who have invested their time and heart in the game," remarked Sarah Issac, Area Sales Manager, Hewlett-Packard, watching the match live at the pub.

Will the boys turn red in the face or make a true blue fight-back?

The crack of dawn will undoubtedly answer all the questions.

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