cricket

Updated: Nov 29, 2016 06:58 IST

Trust the English for their humour! The Barmy Army has a wish: to see Stuart Broad dance with Yuvraj Singh and his bride Hazel Keech at their pre-wedding functions.

Yuvraj Singh and Stuart Broad have been involved in many on-field battles, none famous than the Super 8 encounter between India and England during the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup where Yuvraj smashed six sixes off Broad.

On knowing that Yuvraj is getting married, few of the cheeky English supporters expressed their desire to savour the opportunity of witnessing this ‘big fat Punjabi wedding’, where Broad joining the festivities would add to the festivities.

“We had heard about the food, the drinks, Punjab music and we are having a ball here,” Andy Thompson told Hindustan Times, adding: “But there is something else on my wishlist now. I want to experience at least one Punjabi wedding and good lord isn’t Yuvraj Singh getting married on Wednesday?”

In fact Andy seems to have been speaking on behalf of most of the Barmy Army members. “Oh, we all loved the way Yuvraj batted and who can forget those six sixes he hit off our lad Stuart Broad in World T-20 (2007). Congratulations to Yuvi and his bride but how we wish he had given us invites as well. Maybe, he has sent us and they are still in the mail box! We won’t be getting access to the wedding celebrations but I guess the England team might go to the pre-wedding function as the teams are staying in the same hotel. It would be exciting to see Stuart dancing with Yuvi and his wife in that function,” Andy said.

Sarah Malin, part of the organisational setup for the Barmy Army tour was one up on Andy, telling HT she has already been to a Punjabi pre-wedding sangeet party. “A friend took me along and I had the time of my life. It was so lavish, the bride-too-be looked so beautiful and we had amazing Punjabi food and danced to the beats of Bhangra. We were not dressed in the traditional Indian clothes but we made most of the celebrations. I am still hoping, maybe, we get a chance to sneak peek into Yuvi’s sangeet too at the team hotel on Tuesday night.”

But few like Chris had immediate matters to tend to.

“I was disappointed when told they don’t serve beer at the PCA Stadium here. But with the local Mohali markets not far from the ground, and the English batting going from bad to worse, we went out with a few local fans to have a few drinks in the afternoon.”