Many shades of the Indian cricket fan

Even by the standards of the ugly Indian fan it was gratuitous. As Bangladesh raced to 90 for none at Pune, Shoaib Ali was in good voice. Shoaib is the superfan you have seen on television, in yellow-and-black striped body paint or costume, flag in one hand, stuffed tiger in the other.

- Rahul Bhattacharya

As India began to assert their supremacy on the field, the Indian fans began crowding Shoaib. They jostled him with the "Nagin" dance (which, as a provocation device, deserves an oral history). They shouted "Jai Shri Ram" in his face. At the end of the game, where the only suspense was a will-he-won't-he around Virat Kohli's century, some Indian fans asked Shoaib for his tiger. Uncertain about their motives, he handed it to them. This next part you may have seen too, because it went viral on social media. They tossed it around among themselves, beat it about, literally knocked the stuffing out of it. Then they threw the mutilated toy back at Shoaib. India had won, now so had they.

Shoaib is a mechanic. When he first started travelling, he would scout around for garages near the venue to stay the night. There were times that far, far away from home he did not have the fare to return and would catch odd jobs in order to. Some of these details I know because I met him at the Wankhede last week, as he witnessed another Bangladesh defeat. He did not have his tiger. He thought he would get it stuffed and stitched up, but then noticed that one leg was missing altogether.