Cool cricket party for Aussie fans

BANGALORE: A good 500 Australians are here to witness the first Test and they are all having a ball. Apart from the ''cool'' weather as opposed to Mumbai''s sultry conditions, the performance of the Australians so far, has kept them in absolute delirium.
While a few have come on their own, most others have come in groups managed by former Australian cricketers Mark Waugh and Keith Stackpole.
There''s also one more group which calls itself ''Fanatics''. It''s basically a loose gathering of cricket fans. But it''s Waugh''s group called AST (Australia Supporters Tour) that stands out with its dress code and fancy hair styles. Their dresses are almost similar to Australian One-day colours with a logo of their group on them.
Usually the people partying and watching cricket in groups are bombastic, eccentric and indulgent. Not so the one at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. They are what you call serious followers of cricket and they are in before the first ball is bowled and out only after the last is delivered. They love cricket and they are enjoying every moment of it under the hot Indian sun.
The members of the Mark Waugh group baosted that they are true lovers of cricket and would love to travel all round the globe to watch good entertaining cricket.
They are ecstatic in victory and gracious in defeat and that''s what cricket is all about, they point out. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn''t mind if Australia loses from this point on. "No we can’t see them lose from here," they shout in chorus.
Most of them are first time visitors and are unanimous in their opinion that India is lovely to be in.
While watching cricket and supporting their players is what brings them here, they also believe in chilling out in style and partying hard. They are really raiding the pubs here and ''Night Watchman'' is their favourite.
The group will next head to Chennai for the second Test after which they plan to have a small vacation in Kerala. But how can they ditch their team mid-way through the series?
Well, another group lead by former Australian fast bowler Merv Hughes will be here cheering the team in Nagpur and Mumbai, they disclosed. Well the Aussies have planned the relay well and Mark will only be too pleased to pass the baton to big Merv.