'Bhai ye 2011 final nhi chal raha' - Fans divided over Assam Government's big announcement ahead of India - Sri Lanka First ODI

India and Sri Lanka are set to lock horns with each other in the first of the three-match ODI series at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati. Earlier, both teams locked horns in the recently concluded three-match T20I series in which the hosts ended up as the winning side by a margin of 2-1.

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Apart from other things, the state government of Assam government’s latest announcement has attracted the eyeballs of Indian cricket fans. In a recent piece of the announcement, the government came with an order of a half working day on the match day of the series opener between the men in blue and Dasun Shanaka’s men.

“The governor of Assam is pleased to declare half day local holiday on 10th January 2023 within the Kamrup (Metro) district on the occasion of the ODI match between India and Sri Lanka to be held on 10/01/2023 at Barsapara ACA Cricket Stadium, Guwahati,” read the official statement released by the govt. of Assam through a press release.

This decision from the Assam govt. went viral over social media within a few minutes of the announcement and drew mixed reactions from the fans on the social media platform Twitter. Some of the fans laughed over it and said that it was not going to be an ICC event match whereas a few other lauded this initiative of the government.

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Assam government announced a half-day holiday in Kamrup Metropolitan district for watching the 1st ODI between India & Sri Lanka. (Source - PTI)

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) January 9, 2023

Here’s how fans reacted to the Assam govt’s half-working day decision:

Himanto Bishwa Sharma on fire 🔥🔥
Cricket addiction 😂👍

— Devil666😈😈 (@KrishBhattach12) January 9, 2023

Craze of Cricket in Assam is unreal😍 @CricCrazyJohns

— Rishab Garg 🇮🇳 (@SharmaArnik) January 9, 2023

Great initiative by Government for locals.

— Janki🇮🇳 (@sonikitweet) January 9, 2023

Scare of to empty stadium 🏟️

— Cricket Critics (@Cricket4critics) January 9, 2023

Lol... this isn't a world cup final Assam Government

— RK (@Mahigoat007) January 9, 2023

bhai ye 2011 final nhi chal raha

— Berozgar Yuva (@anhedonic_yuva) January 9, 2023

Wtf! its not even ICC tournament 😂

— Cricman (@KL444444) January 9, 2023

They should do it for sports like Football, Hockey etc. They need the support of the fans more than cricket. Cricket lovers would anyway be watching cricket.

— Divyanshu Shrimali (@DivyanshuShrim1) January 9, 2023

Yahan India mein Hockey ka wc start hona hai, uske liye koi hype nahi ban rhi, na hi media ko kuch lena dena aur yahan ek mamuli cricket match ke liye half day holiday announce ho rhi hai !

— Harsh Tegta (@tegtaharsh97) January 9, 2023

Notably, the Indian team will get the services of the regular skipper Rohit Sharma alongside the former skipper Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. Earlier, the team played the T20I series under the captaincy of stand-in skipper Hardik Pandya during the absence of Rohit Sharma.

Here’s a look at the squad of team India for the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka:

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.