Asia Cup 2018: Ardent Indian cricket fan Sudhir Gautam with Pakistan's "Chacha Chicago".
In a display of cross-border friendship, a cricket fan from Pakistan decided to sponsor the trip of an ardent Indian cricket fan who did not have the money to travel to the UAE for the Asia Cup tournament 2018.
Indian cricket fan Sudhir Gautam, often sighted in the stadiums painted in the colours of the national flag and cheering for the "Men In Blue", had decided to skip the Asia Cup tournament as he could not afford the tickets to the UAE. When Pakistan's cricket superfan Mohammad Bashir, known as "Chacha Chicago", got to know about his reason, he decided to fund his trip.
Talking to sports website www.xtratime.in, Mohammad Bashir said, "I told Sudhir you just come here and I will take care of everything. I am not a rich person but my heart is as big as an ocean. If I help you, Allah will be happy."
Before the Asia Cup 2018 tournament, Mr Gautam shared a happy picture with "Chicago Chacha" from Pakistan and Shoaib Tiger from Bangladesh. He captioned it, "Cricket beyond borders".
Mohammad Bashir and Sudhir Gautam will be watching the much-awaited Ind vs Pak match together in Dubai today while rooting for their own countries.
Mr Gautam has been an enthusiastic Sachin Tendulkar fan since the age of 6. He had even postponed his wedding to watch India's cricket matches on TV.
With "Miss You Tendulkar" painted on his back, he shared a picture on the social media ahead of the Ind vs Pak Asia Cup match today. "No one better than Sachin who used to #KnockThemOut into the stands," he posted.
Here's the picture he shared:
Out of the 12 Asia Cup matches played between India and Pakistan teams, India have won six times (5 ODIs and one T20I) while Pakistan have won on five occasions. One match ended with no result.