India’s cricket fans have donned facepaint and unfurled their flags in Australia and beyond, as their national team battle in the World Cricket Cup semi-final.
Dedicated fans even gathered at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday, watching their national team train 24 hours ahead of their sold-out match against Australia. Some agencies are reporting that 70 per cent of tickets sold for Thursday’s match belong to Indian fans, whose support hasn’t gone unnoticed by the players.
SBS sports reporter John Baldock is live tweeting the match
Sachin Tendulkar's biggest fan Sudhir Kumar Choudhrie was also in attendance, donning his body paint for India's victory over Bangladesh last week.
The self-described extreme cricket fan joined the Swamy Army for their World Cup tour, which comes more than a decade since the group first formed.
SBS reporter Brianna Roberts joined some members as they prepared for the match on Thursday morning.
The group - originally just 10 friends travelling to support India during their 2003/04 tour of Australia - has grown to more than 5000 members, who offer support at the match and on social media worldwide.
Beyond Australia’s shores, members are posting their support online as fans from schools girls to award winning authors cheer on the team.
Salman Rushie, famed author and fatwa target, posted his support on Twitter overnight, after weighing in on New Zealand’s victory.
Other fans have spent money saved on airline tickets to decorate their homes, with at least one shrine to the Indian team appearing on social media.
Salman Rushdie shows his support (Twitter)
The fans have also taken aim at the Australian team on social media, mocking an online request by Australian captain Michael Clarke for fans to dress up for matches.
"So sad when captain asks viewers to do the things" one Indian fan tweeted, another stating that such pleas were something that "Dhoni will never ever have to do".
Other Indian fans mocked their own enthusiasm, joking that the country would witness a record number of sick days.
Others joked that "for one, night shift guys can laugh at the morning shift guys".
'Who’s going to be manning 7/11s today?'
Some Indian fans appeared to be taken by surprise on Thursday morning, when Today host Karl Stefanovic asked “who’s going to be manning 7/11s today?”
Though his comments were met with laughter by those being interviewed, angry viewers have made their feelings clear on the Channel Nine program’s Facebook page.
Viewers described “racism and bullying on the Today show”, while others accused producers of burying their “heads in the sand over the racist comments”.
“Shame, shame, shame on you Carl [sic],” one poster wrote.
“You are obviously an arrogant individual, that doesn't or can't think of things to say without sounding like a bigot/racist. Disgusted.”
Others accused the page’s administrators of deleting comments regarding the incident, suggesting that a separate site be set up to call for Stefanovic’s resignation.
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