West Test: Parents and son split between support of India and Australia

If you were an Indian fan on Saturday, The West Test was batting at its best. If you supported Australia, it was a day of flat-track frustration as the visitors asserted their authority in another gripping chapter of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. And if you were the Paranjape family, there was sure to be debate at the dinner table on Saturday night. That’s because the cricket-loving clan occupy a household split in half. Mum and dad are proudly wearing Indian blue at The West Test, while their nine-year-old son is decked out in green and gold. And it was the parents who were in party mode on Saturday after India dominated day two of the first Test by cleaning up Australia for 104 and then going on to score 0-172 — a lead of 218 — in front of a record crowd of 32,368. India’s opening batsmen KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal were incredible, batting virtually all day for scores of 62 and 90 respectfully. And that made Samir Paranjape and his wife Rutali very happy. The lifelong Indian cricket fans are proud members of Perth’s branch of the Bharat Army — a global network of the team’s supporters. Mr Paranjape grew up in the central Indian city of Nagpur in a culture where cricket was more religion than sport. “In India, cricket is life,” he said. “We are brought up having the cricket on in the house all the time. Whenever there are big matches, there will be a party and friends will come over and watch the matches together.” Mr Paranjape, who played in local matches as a youngster, said from one or two days old his son, Yuvaan, would have heard cricket commentary playing in the home. His love of cricket only grew as father and son practised in empty car bays inside their apartment’s parking lot. But when it came time to choose a team, Yuvaan, chartered his own course and barracked for Australia. He can name just about every player on the team. “I like cricket because I like to play sports and my Mum and Dad grew up watching cricket,” Yuvaan told The Sunday Times. “I chose to support Australia because I grew up here and have spent my whole life in Australia.” While Mr Paranjape’s favourite player is Virat Kohli and Ms Paranjape’s is Jasprit Bumrah, Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins is the MVP for Yuvaan. “I love Pat Cummins because I love bowling and he’s a fast bowler,” the nine-year-old cricketer, who now plays for the Ascot Eagles, said. Mr Paranjape said he left his son to choose his team. “Whoever he wanted to support was fine,” he said. “There’s always a bit of a rivalry. He will tease me when India lose a wicket.” While jubilant yesterday, Mr Paranjape was nervous on Friday after India made a few troubling errors. “Kohli dropped a catch, so I hadn’t started to enjoy it,” he said. Yuvaan was in school for the first day of the Test, but was at Optus Stadium on Saturday to cheer on his heroes — no matter how hard they were doing it.