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Love, luck 'n' loads of advice on the Net

Debabrata Mohanty

JulyBHUBANESWAR, MAY 10:

  • ``Bholo ki khelibu. Chokadola toro mangolo koribe. Best of luck,''(Play well. God is on your side.) -- Krishna Rath (19).

  • ``Babu bhala khela... ama odisara na rakha.''(Son, play well. Keep up the prestige of State.) -- Pua bhai alias Saroj Patri.

  • ``Yu (sic) are a lucky fellow. Do not waste this chance. Please don't spray the ball around the park.'' -- Rajeev (22).

    The well-wishers of Indian cricket's big boys have spilled onto the Internet. Above are a few of the good luck e-mail messages for Debasis Mohanty -- Orissa's famous export to the 7th World Cup cricket to be held at England from May 14 -- at the goworldcup99.com website, a World Cup-specific website. The site is hosting the messages of the fans for their respective cricketing idols.

    The wellwishers and fans of Debasis also are not far behind. While somebody like Tendulkar and Jadeja have got 1000-odd messages between them, Debasis is not doing bad. Till May 8, he had got some60-odd fan e-mails, mostly from his well wishers in the State, egging him to do well in the World Cup.

    If 17-year-old Nitasha Jain wrote, ``Bowl fast, bowl well.. bowl with fire'', 12-year-old Wrik Sen asked the medium-fast bowler to ``strike hard'' while expressing his surprise over his inclusion in squad. Bosom pals of Debasis, Sharma and Manas asked him to take care of his health in the English climate. Age was definitely not a bar for those wanting to advise Debasis on his bowling tactic. ``Pitch the ball up, improve ur (sic) line and swing the ball as u usually do,'' wrote Pranav Modi (15). One Varun, barely two-years-old (since when have two-year-olds become netizens?) posted this simple message: ``When God is with you, why fear. Let's take all the world onto our feet. Do it.''

    Though fans of all ages wished Debasis, those in the age group of 23-26 seemed to be very enthusiastic. Everyone had one prayer: Don't disappoint the fans and the selectors.

    There were a few weird messages also. One Amita(19) confessed her love for the lanky cricketer, assuring him to go out with him if he did well. Someone called Ajit Wadekar (4) asked him to swing the ball and not listen to Azhar. Someone addressing himself as Atal Behari Vajpayee (66) and 007 passed some hate mails to the cricketer.

    Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.

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