espnstar.com’s Rajarshi Gupta recounts the incidents of the morning after a passionate night in Hyderabad on Friday.

Barely two hours after filing my last story on the Airtel Champions League Twenty20, I was at the airport at 6 AM, waiting for a flight back home to New Delhi.

After exchanging early morning pleasantries with my colleagues, I decided to bide time at a coffee shop. There were still some 30 minutes to go before the boarding gate opened.

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That is when I saw them, instantly recognising who they were. Two of those pretty cheer leaders who had kept thousands at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium riveted.

I had met one of them, the night before, by the poolside- Rupali. She spoke with the same vigour she had done not many hours back. Her friend though looked a little jaded from the exhaustion of the last two weeks.

"We are travelling to Delhi- that will be our stopover before heading back to the USA," Rupali said before I settled in with my coffee across her chair.

How long were they going to be there, I wondered aloud when Rupali's companion quipped: "11 hours" (Let's call her Jennie- I forgot to introduce myself and consequently did not get her name)

A casual coffee table conversation leads to one thing and then to another. I wanted to know if they had fun in India.

Jennie smiled and nodded her head while Rupali said: "Oh yes, we have had fun. People in India are still getting used to the concept of cheer leading but it is catching up fast.

Cheer leading is big business in the States and there is good money. You will be surprised to see the different ways of cheer leading back there."

The girls are trained dancers- most of them are. In fact Rupali and Jennie train young aspirants when they are not busy jiving to sizzling numbers in cricket ground in India and the world over.

"I am a professional dance trainer and I have my own business but I love cheerleading because it is fun and it pays well too."

The lady on the public address system disrupted our lively chat when she announced the flight to Delhi.

I got up, collected my bag and prepared to leave, all in one slow and painful motion. When I turned back to say goodbye, they were gone too.
A couple of hours later when I landed in Delhi, thinking about the long day ahead, I bumped into the ladies again. Of course, they were stopping over for 11 hours and they were in the same flight, seated two rows across.

This time we wished adieu more properly- the good old shake of hands- and Rupali hoped to catch up soon- probably, she said, during the IPL in March.

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