When Ashutosh Shirke (left), Faraz Baig (centre), Anish Desouza (right) met in 2009 during India's test match against Sri Lanka, it was the first time that mobile phones were allowed inside the stadium. Sitting across at the Stadium Restaurant on the last day of the test, they decided to form the North Stand Gang, as most of them used to sit at the North Stand in the Wankhede Stadium. While they started as three cricket fans, they were 20 by the time the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup took place in Mumbai, and today are over 90 fans, who discuss cricket, and watch India's matches even beyond the Wankhede Stadium whenever they can.

Ashutosh Shirke, who is the co-founder, says the group started with Orkut but has over the years moved to Facebook and Twitter too. Before the December 2016 India vs England test match, he did a 100-day countdown to the match, and that got a lot of interest from supporters and even questions like ‘How to reach Wankhede?’, ‘Which station do I get down?’ and patiently replied to all of them, and that's when their online presence picked up.

Before the 2016 test match against England, DeSouza and Vipul Yadav, another ardent fan and member of the group, had written the text of how Brabourne and Wankhede were special for cricket in Mumbai and that was printed on T-Shirts to become the official T-Shirt of the group. They met the Barmy Army, who had come down to watch the match like they do, at the stadium. The North Stand Gang presented the T-shirt to them as their token of appreciation. They then invited them to a party at a pub on Marine Drive. Each of the members gave the gang a flag and their songbook as well to sing with then the next time there is an India vs England match at the Wankhede.

Borivali-based Sagar Walve joined the gang in 2011, almost 10 years after he started watching matches at the Wankhede Stadium with the India – Australia test match in 2001 being the first. The city-based doctor, and not loves watching cricket but also playing the sport, reveals that even in the medical fraternity they have a thriving league.

Walve found the perfect partner in Varada Dixit, former national-level badminton player, hailing from Nagpur and a huge sports enthusiast. Dixit has accompanied Walve to the matches since 2016, and has made the time to watch not only test matches, ODIs, T20s but also the IPL matches.

Sanika Sawant another Mumbaikar like Dixit, always joins the North Stand Gang to watch matches. Like Mahale, Sawant came across the Mumbai-based cricket fans group on Twitter in 2019. Apart from their mutual love for cricket, their love for ‘Mumbai cricket’ made her join the gang. Her first experience with the North Stand Gang was the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy between Mumbai and Assam, followed by India’s game against Australia, which we lost. In all these years she has been part of the gang, there are many fond memories but her favourite is when she got a chance to meet Sachin Tendulkar a few years back and presented him with the NSG T-shirt on behalf of the gang. It was no different for Shirke, who met Amol Mazumdar, a player who he has admired for a very long time, during the India vs South Africa match in 2019, when the latter for their interim batting coach, in Pune. In picture: Sanika Sawant presenting the NSG T-shirt to Sachin Tendulkar, and Ashutosh Shirke getting emotional after Amol Mazumdar signed the NSG shirt. 

Such has been their presence on Twitter that Rushab Mahale was among the newest entrants of the North Stand Gang like Sawant. Having connected with them on Twitter in 2019 before the ICC World Cup, it was only natural for the city cricketer who played for Sporting Clubs Committee in the Kanga Knockouts earlier this year, and has been playing cricket for more than 18 years now, to join the gang. 

If you look at the North Stand stand from any part of the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, you will see a white patch, and that is nothing but the North Gang wearing their T-shirts.