Rehman Zaid and Fatima made a trip from Oman to Dubai to catch a glimpse of India's superstar cricketers, and it did not matter to them that they had to wait for hours to turn a long-cherished dream into reality.
Rarely do fans from a cricketing outpost get to see Indian players up close, but once the chance came, the supporters returned home with some precious memorabilia.
There were fans from India, of course, but among the 200-plus supporters assembled at the ICC Cricket Academy were Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Oman, UK and USA citizens -- mostly of Indian origin.
The Indian team members trained for a nearly three hours at the venue on Monday evening ahead of their Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh on February 20.
With little time wasted, the fans captured the cricketers' pictures and videos on their phones, standing a mere 5 metres away and separated only by a barricade and a few security personnel.
“We have come from Oman. We will be watching a few matches of India. We are quite happy that we got such an opportunity to see the cricketers from so close,” said Zaid, who has come along with his family of four.
The fans waited till India's net session got over, and tried to get their pictures once more.
The cricketers, who trooped into the team bus quickly, however, found some time to sign a few autographs, much to the glee of the fans.
As one would expect, the loudest cheers were reserved for Kohli, a crowd puller wherever he goes.
The 17-year-old Fatima managed to get Shreyas Iyer's sign on a T-shirt, and she was delighted.
“I am so happy. I am so grateful to ICC for allowing us to see and interact with the Indian cricketers from so close. I managed to get the autograph on the T-shirt.
“This is so unreal. I saw Virat. He came and signed this one for me and for others. He is so nice and wonderful. I just missed Shami's autograph,” she said.
Now, they plan to return to see their heroes once again on February 20 and 23 for the matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan respectively.
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