Sudhir Kumar Choudhrie, also called Sudhir Kumar Gautham, is a fan of the
Indian cricket team and Sachin Tendulkar. He is widely recognised for
attending every home match the Indian team has played since 2003. For some
overseas tours, he also collects funds from the cricket loving public. He is
usually seen with his body painted in the national colours of India, waving
the national flag in the live telecast of the matches.
Cricket fan Since 2003, his sole passion has been to
watch cricket matches played by India and to support the team. By April 2010,
he had attended approximately 150 matches, often traveling by bicycle to
reach the venue of match. He sometimes pedals his cycle to cricket playing
venues, as he did to Bangladesh to witness a cricket match in 2007 and to
Lahore, Pakistan in 2006. To save money, he sometimes braves ticketless travel in
trains to reach venues. When attending cricket matches, he paints his body with
the tri- colour, the colours of India flag, and he usually paints the name of
Tendulkar on his chest. He carries a conch with him and blows the conch to
announce the arrival of the India cricket team. He paints his body on the
previous day of a match and skips sleep that night to preserve the paint on his
body. He cycled for 21 days from Muzaffarpur, Bihar to Mumbai to watch
Sachin play for India against Australia on 28 October 2003 and this was the
first tri-series match where he started supporting India by waving Indian
tri-colour. 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup
During the World Cup, Sudhir sported a kooky crown - a replica World Cup
trophy. Sudhir's crowning moment came on April 2, 2011, the day India defeated
Sri Lanka in the Final at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, to become the World
Champions. Sachin Tendulkar himself signaled Sudhir who was sitting among
the cheering Indian fans, to come to the Indian dressing room and join the team's
celebrations. Tendulkar asked Zaheer Khan to bring the World Cup over.
Tendulkar shook hands with Sudhir, hugged him and finally let him lift the
cup from Zaheer’s hands. Tendulkar allowed Sudhir to hold the World Cup
along with him and Sudhir celebrated the occasion by posing for photographs.
Sudhir chanted "India" as he lifted the ICC World Cup 2011 trophy.
= Apology by police = In March 2009, a Senior Police officer
intercepted and thrashed Sudhir Kumar in Kanpur, when he tried to shake hands
with Sachin Tendulkar during a practice session. Later, after Tendulkar's
intervention and request he was let off, and the police officer tendered an
apology to Sudhir Kumar, repenting the event. Sudhir Kumar stopped the practice
of scaling fences to reach the team to celebrate a win, only after Tendulkar
advised against such practice. After this incident, the BCCI has sponsored
Sudhir Kumar for every match. Personal life
Chaudhary is unemployed, having previously worked for a milk company and
trained as a teacher. He postponed his marriage, so that he could watch all the
matches played by Indian cricket team. He wants to follow the Indian team all
over the world, wherever it plays cricket. This style of living followed
by Sudhir Kumar has made his parents unhappy, and he once threatened
self-immolation if he was not assured of watching all cricket matches played by
the Indian cricket team. He declared that his life is dedicated to watching
Indian cricket matches and he lives his life on public support.
Sudhir Kumar is one of three principal roles of a documentary film "Beyond all
boundaries" which tells the stories of three different personalities of Indian
Cricket and he is shown as a super fan of the sport. Made by film maker Sushrut
Jain, the film shows details about the personal life of Sudhir Kumar and the
film makers traveled hundreds of thousands of kilometers with Sudhir
Kumar when filming the documentary. References