KOLKATA: Forget the usual jibes at an under-performing Bangladeshi batting side. On Friday, the social media’s only obsession was pink.
Whether it was a celebrated cricketer, a successful actor or a university student, who skipped classes to witness history being made at Eden Gardens, Kolkatans or the Bengalis outside the state, pink fever seemed to have gripped them all. From sharing photographs from the stadium, tagging friends with photographs of Kolkata monuments turning pink and sharing anecdotes about spectators making their way to the stadium, netizens ensured #PinkBallTest garnered the highest worldwide trend from Friday noon. Till 5pm in the evening, with Eden’s floodlights in full glow, it had been re-tweeted 28.5k times.
Leading from the front were present Indian cricketers who had begun tweeting 72 hours in advance. The official handle of India’s vice-captain Rohit Sharma saw tweets about Kolkata turning pink. Cricketer Ajinkya Rahane had shared a photograph of him sleeping beside a pink ball. “Already, dreaming about the historic pink ball test,” he tweeted.
Among those, who took to Facebook was CM Mamata Banerjee who did a FB Live on the bell ringing ceremony and even Kolkata Police who proudly declared that the “colour of the city was pink”. As Harsha Bhogle tweeted, “It could only happen in Kolkata, a city of emotions. The first d/n test & the entire city pitches in, turning pink. Almost as if each person thinks it is his/her responsibility to make it a success.”

The emotion transcended all ages. College student Saptarshi Majumdar and his father Satyaki Majumdar could hardly contain their excitement on social media. “Gonna tell my children that I was there with my dad. We will together revolutionize test cricket,” wrote Saptarshi on his Facebook account.
Netizens also thanked Sourav Ganguly, the ex-Indian skipper and present BCCI president for offering the city “yet another historic moment”. Actor Paoli Dam wrote on FB: “Our city of joy, Kolkata, is pink today! All set to experience the first ever Pink Test Match. Wishing all my best to both India & Bangladesh and a hearty congratulations to Saurav Ganguly.” By evening, memes began flooding social media. Swagat Khuntia tweeted: “Two minutes for all those who booked tickets for Day 4.”

 

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