ICC World Cup: Annoyed Clarke calls out Aussie fans for semis clash vs India

SydneyIndia fans are likely to outnumber their Australian counterparts when the two teams clash in the World Cup semifinal in Sydney on Thursday much to the annoyance of the home captainAustralia skipper Michael Clarke and teammate David Warner sent out identical tweets saying I call on all Australian cricket lovers to paint the SCG gold on Thursday We need your supportgoldout The hashtag referring to the Australian team colours has ironically caught the fancy of more Indian Twitter users than AustralianMichael Clarke rand Glenn Maxwell Pic AFPOrganisers believe that 70 percent of tickets at the soldout 42000capacity Sydney Cricket Ground have been bought by by India fans threatening to create an environment reminiscent of the frenzied atmosphere of Eden Gardens in KolkataIf the pitch suits spinners as has been the case at the SCG in the past cohosts Australia may well feel as though they have been kicked out of their own party Kartik Ayyalasomayajula one of the founders of the Swami Army Indias version of Englands Barmy Army supporters group forecast the Australian team would be in for a hard time from fans on ThursdayIt will be very loud very intimidating Kartik told the Sydneybased Daily Telegraph newspaper It will feel like an away game for them The drummers will be going around the ground and people will be dancing singing and cheering every run India score every wicket they take People will be going nutsKartik a Melbournebased IT professional said the tweets by Clarke and Warner pleading for Australian support at the match indicated how much the home team were worried I think those tweets definitely say theyre going to be outnumbered he said I would have thought that would be a standard expectation for the Aussie fans without their heroes going on Twitter to plead with them Theyre really scraping the barrel there I think its a message in itself India versus Australia in a World Cup semifinal it doesnt get much bigger than that Australian allrounder James Faulkner said the team was prepared for a hostile response from Indian fansAsked if the match will feel like an away fixture Faulkner said We were talking about it last night at dinner the last game we played here it definitely felt like that The passion the Indian fans show towards their cricket team is sensational so were definitely expecting that The last game we played against India here a triseries match was a washout and the fans were unbelievable in the way they supportedSwami Armys Kartik said those Australians who turned up at the SCG on Thursday would get another taste of what cricket means in South Asia This country wont have seen this level of support or atmosphere for cricket games he said You have to go to the subcontinent to get that kind of feel so we are effectively bringing that atmosphere to Sydney Its going to be a spectacleKartik said fans were still looking for tickets as they looked to cheer on the defending champions Its pretty much name your price kind of thing he said Its the hottest ticket in town at the moment India who won the 2011 World Cup in South Asia defeated Ricky Pontings Australia in the quarterfinals in Ahmedabad