It's not cricket! India superstar lookalikes face anger

By Rupam Jain Nair

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters Life!) - They were showered with love and flowers when India was playing well, but now they are abused and taunted on the streets after the national cricket team crashed out of the World Cup in the Caribbean.

Lookalikes of Indian cricketing superstars in Gujarat in western India are diving for cover after the team's shock defeat to lowly Bangladesh and subsequent loss to Sri Lanka forced the 1983 champions to slink home in disgrace.

Some men who bear more than a passing resemblance to Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni say angry fans now hurl insults and sometimes even stones at them.

"I can't walk on the streets, people jeer and threaten me," said Tendulkar lookalike Suresh Rathod in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's main city.

Until just a few days ago, 35-year-old Rathod would don the sky blue Indian team uniform and inaugurate restaurants and beauty parlors in Ahmedabad.

"People paid me and invited me to attend programs and parties, today they are all venting their anger," he said.

Cricket is taken very seriously in India, where top players are huge celebrities with astronomical earnings to match.

Hundreds of fans across India burned effigies, defaced posters and held mock funeral processions for the national team, a day after last week's ignominious World Cup exit.