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Prank calling fans take revenge on India

BCCI headquarters inundated by mocking rival supporters after MS Dhoni's side's crash out of World Cup

The headquarters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India has been inundated with prank callers since the team's World Cup semi-final defeat to Australia last week.

The BCCI switchboard has been jammed with Bangladesh and Pakistan supporters ringing up to poke fun at the 'Mauka Mauka' catch-cry that swept through the subcontinent during India's unbeaten run through the tournament's group stages.

An advertising campaign by subcontinent host broadcaster Star Sports chronicled the tale of a despairing Pakistan supporter, his dusty box of fireworks and deep-rooted desire to beat India ahead of the India-Pakistan group stage blockbuster.

It spawned a thousand YouTube parodies of varying quality and became a catch-cry in the region. 'Mauka' means 'opportunity' in Hindi.

According to reports from the region, several hundred fans had rung the BCCI following India's 95-run defeat in the semi-final to sing: "Mauka mauka! Kya hua mauke ka?"

Loosely translated it means: "Opportunity? What happened to the opportunity?"

"The BCCI office number is available on our website. These over-zealous people were simply happy that India lost," numerous reports quoted an unnamed BCCI staff member as saying.

"They pulled a prank on us but after a point it got really irritating.

"The advertisement was popular but I didn't expect it to come back at us like this."

"We got the telephone company to trace the origin of these calls. A large number of them were from Bangladesh, while the rest were from Pakistan.

"This is the first time we have received calls from outside the country to mock the Indian team's performance."