It was hard to spot any South African-born white or black man anywhere at the Moses Mabhida Stadium yesterday
It was hard to spot any South African-born white or black man anywhere at the Moses Mabhida Stadium yesterday. The population of this city is 1/4th Indian, but it was rather strange to see the lack of support for the home nation on the night its famous, first-ever black cricketer bid adieu to the sport.u00a0
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Ashish Nehra (left) greets South African cricketer Makhaya Ntini as he played his last match ufffd the T20 international between India and South Africa in Durban yesterday.
Pics/AFP |
This was an event purely organised to celebrate the comradeship of India and South Africa, attended largely by the Indian community.
Sure, the farewell of Makhaya Ntini was the agenda, but somewhere it seemed overplayed. At some stage, it felt like Ntini's farewell was an excuse for Cricket South Africa (CSA) to reek in the large masses.
It was a night cricket administrators in South Africa had been planning for over four months.
"Was this really Makhaya's farewell game? It seemed like an Indian homecoming to me," one spectator said.
"Why is Makhaya getting all this attention? A game just for him? We (Indians) came here 150 years back, and this event is to celebrate our arrival here.
"We have done everything for South Africa, from helping the coloured communities learn cricket, to influence their readmission to the game, and even the IPL" he quipped.u00a0
Just then, another spectator swooped in to say, "Don't you dare question that! Makhaya is an icon for the black people in this country, and this is a way to celebrate his achievements.
"He is the reason blacks will now play cricket for South Africa. This night, I will never forget because I got to see Shah Rukh Khan perform, Ntini wave his goodbye. All this will be etched in my memory forever," he said.
Not a single spectator left the ground when the concert wasu00a0 underway.
