Thaindian News

Mohali, March 30 (IANS) If there was a parking crunch at the Chandigarh Airport, the scene at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium here Wednesday was no different with the cavalcades of two prime ministers occupying a lion’s share of parking space inside the stadium.

As many as 20 cars that brought Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani and their entourages were parked inside the stadium, leaving little space for other VVIP’s to park their vehicles.

A top PCA official told IANS that they had to turn down several requests from ministers, politicians and Bollywood stars to park their cars inside the stadium premises.

“Everybody wants to park their cars inside the stadium, but we are helpless. Even some of the International Cricket Council (ICC) officials couldn’t park their cars inside the stadium,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.

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Shoaib gets a huge cheer from Mohali crowd

The Mohali crowd expected to see Pakistan’s fiesty fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar battling it out with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag one last time, but the retiring Rawalpindi Express looked disappointed when he was left out of the playing eleven.

But the 35-year-old temperamental bowler got a huge cheer from the 28,000 fans when he walked into the stadium to warm up before the toss. He waved at the crowd to acknowledge the cheers.

Shoaib then walked up to former India captain Sourav Ganguly for a brief chat. They exchanged greetings and hugged each other before Ganguly walked to the middle for the pitch report.

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When men in uniform got a taste of their own medicine

Rare scenes were witnessed at the PCA Stadium as policemen in charge of manning the stands were not exempted from frisking by their colleagues at the gates.

“See, we all are same, we can’t have different rules” said a smiling policeman to a group of journalists waiting in the queue.

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Cricket for charity

No matter which team wins, children across India will benefit as Reliance Life Insurance will contribute Rs.25,000 for every four scored in Wednesday’s semifinal between India and Pakistan.

Reliance, one of the official sponsors of the ICC, said in a statement that they are pledging Rs.25,000 for every four hit in the semifinal in addition to the Rs.25,000 for every six hit during the tournament.

The campaign has already collected Rs.9 million to provide fully functioning libraries, trained librarians and books for over 10,000 children.

–Indo-Asian New Service
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