195
When defending champions India were hammered by Australia in the World Cup semi-final on Thursday, fans from Pakistan and Bangladesh knew their mauka had finally come.
To rub salt into the wounds of MS Dhoni's team a day after their 92-run loss to Australia, enthusiastic fans from Pakistan and Bangladesh (both lost to India) called the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters more than 200 times to remind them of their thrashing by singing Mauka, mauka.
Mauka, mauka (opportunity), a popular TV ad that aired during the World Cup, captured a Pakistani fans endless journey to beat India at the cricket showpiece. While that wait did not end at this year's tournament, fans scored a victory of another kind on Friday.
As soon as the staff at the BCCI headquarters would pick up, the callers would sing: “Mauka mauka! Kya hua mauke ka? (What happened to the opportunity)?” the Indian Express reported.
“The BCCI office number is available on our website. These over-zealous people were simply happy that India lost. They pulled a prank on us but after a point it got really irritating. The advertisement was popular but I didn’t expect it to come back at us like this,” a BCCI staff member said.
According to the report, the calls started around 4 pm on Friday and were such a nuisance for those present at the BCCI offices that they had to disconnect the lines.
“We got the telephone company to trace the origin of these calls. A large number of them were from Bangladesh, while the rest were from Pakistan,” the BCCI staff member added.
The BCCI staff usually receives calls inquiring about match tickets and schedules but this was the first instance fans from overseas had made such an effort.
“This is the first time we have received calls from outside the country to mock the Indian team’s performance,” the staffer said.
