Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary (born 1982 in

Muzaffarpur Muzaffarpur () is a city located in Muzaffarpur district in the Tirhut region of the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur district and the Muzaffarpur Railway District. It is the fourth m ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

), also called Sudhir Kumar Gautam, is an Indian teacher who is fan of the

Indian cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a Full Member of the International ...

and

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-scor ...

. He is widely recognised for attending every home match the Indian team has played since 2007. For some overseas tours, he collects funds from the public. He is usually seen in stadium with his body painted in the national colours of India, waving the national flag in the live telecast of the matches.

Personal life

Sudhir Choudhary was born in a very poor family in a semi-rural place of

. He became obsessed with Indian cricket and a fan of Sachin Tendulkar at the age of 6. He left his studies at the age of 14 when he was in his secondary school. He 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 the Indian cricket team, and wants to follow the team all over the world, wherever it plays. This style of living followed by Sudhir Kumar has made his parents unhappy, and he once threatened

self-immolation The term self-immolation broadly refers to acts of altruistic suicide, otherwise the giving up of one's body in an act of sacrifice. However, it most often refers specifically to autocremation, the act of sacrificing oneself by setting oneself o ...

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.

Cricket fan

Sudhir Chaudhary at the Chepauk stadium, Chennai Since 2003, Sudhir Chaudhary's 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 Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

to witness a cricket match in 2007 and to

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, 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 Indian cricket team. Sudhir Chaudhary 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 2 April 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 Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all forms of the game for the Indian national team from 2000 till 2014. He is a fast-medium left-arm bowler. He was the second-most successful Indian pace ...

to bring the World Cup over. Tendulkar shook hands with Sudhir Kumar, 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 Cricket World Cup 2011 The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus ...

trophy.

Apology by the police

In March 2010, a Senior Police officer intercepted and thrashed Sudhir Kumar in

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

, 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.

Attack by Bangladesh Cricket fans

In 2015, during India - Bangladesh series in Mirpur, he was attacked and harassed by Bangladesh fans booing against India, when he was trying to leave the stadium. He feared for his life but was eventually rescued by Bangladesh Police.

References