Five things that lifted me on a spirit-sapping evening at Sahara Stadium, Pune

1. Mitchell Johnson’s cheer-leading act:

George Bailey might have been the “Man of the match”, but the man of the crowd undoubtedly was Mitchell Johnson. On a day when the crowd was desperately trying to get the attention of the fielders (both Indian and Australian) in the deep, every wave of the hand and acknowledgement was loudly cheered. So it was, when Johnson came to field at deep mid-wicket after the field restrictions were lifted. The East stand crowd that was standing behind him, failing to receive any acknowledgement even after a lot of “Johnson, Johnson” calls, resorted to something new. As Johnson started his warm-up routine getting ready to bowl again, the crowd behind him started imitating him; when Johnson stretched, so did the crowd; when he started windmilling his arms, so did the entire stand behind him. This did not miss the keen sight of Johnson. And being the sport he was, he led the crowd on – continuing his warm-up stretches even after completing his over and coming back. He slowly moved on to some awkward stretches, stopping at weird positions and the crowd obliged, doing the same. Whenever his teammate bowled or fielded well, he turned to crowd and clapped and so did they. This entire episode continued for about an hour or so and was certainly the funniest experience of the entire day. And finally when Johnson had to change fielding position, the East stand responded with a chant of “Johnson come back” calling out their cheerleader.