Ahmedabad, October 13 (Press Ki Taquat)
Ahmedabad shines with the cricket buzz in the daytime; and after dusk, the city twinkles in the trance of garba preparations. At night, the Tricolour disco lights keep the party going as the city refuses to sleep.
It has been so for almost a fortnight as the big day — of the India-Pakistan blockbuster tie — finally arrives. The locals have waited for this arch-rivalry for 18 years — the last time the two teams played here, Pakistan beat India by three wickets in the fourth match of a bilateral ODI series on April 12, 2005.
“8-0. Nothing less than that,” said 16-year-old Abhishek Patel, as he waited for his school bus at the Vastrapur bus stop. The Class XI student was obviously referring to India’s all-win head-to-head record against Pakistan in their seven ODI World Cup meetings so far.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said: “Ahmedabad is all blue, it will be a challenging match.”
From the biggest cricket stadium in the world – the Narendra Modi Stadium with a capacity of 1.34 lakh — to 52 garba grounds in the city, there is room for everybody to play. Cricket or dandia, the choice is yours! Mercifully, one will gave way to the other; only for a day, though, as there will be no let-up with the Navratri festivities continuing till October 23. Doctors and private hospitals are repeatedly cautioning overzealous partygoers and tourists to avoid overexertion. But game-faced tourists are unrelenting with their out-of-the-box ideas: ‘Stay at a hospital, get a medical check-up done, and then go for the game’.
Bharat Gadhvi, the Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association president, said, “We have discouraged our members to entertain such unethical admissions.”
Community halls, colleges, university dormitories, homestays and guesthouses are overflowing with visitors. “Room rents have surged more than five times the usual rates,” said Amit Sangwan, general manager at Novotel.
Cab drivers said those who could not book rooms are coming in from Vadodara, as far as 250km from here, on the matchday. Aviation industry insiders said besides the 250 scheduled flights, as many as 300 private jet landings have been made at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport since October 6. A 30 per cent rise in non-scheduled charter aircraft movement has been noticed in the month of October. For the lesser mortals, the Amdavad Municipal Transport Services has added 77 additional buses for the big day.
Field days for cheats, cops
Four anti-morcha teams — comprising cops with the experience of handling protest demonstrations during former US President Donald Trump’s 2000 visit, and against the NRC and CAA — have been deployed near the stadium gates to keep disgruntled ticket-seekers at bay.
But the cat and mouse game continues. Cheats too have had their hands full for the last few days. Two rackets involving the sale of approximately 2,000 counterfeits were busted on Wednesday. Thugs posing as novice ticket-seekers looted Rs 24,000 from a BBA student of Dholka, Vivek Vala, in Vastrapur, the heart of the city.
Cops say they have their eyes on black marketeers hanging around the stadium but their biggest worry is those ‘bulk operators’ sitting in plush hotels and dealing in counterfeits. This at a time when 11,000 cops are on vigil and 150 probationary IPS officers having been drafted in for training in crowd management.
Gujarati feast
The visiting Pakistan team, put up at a five-star hotel on the Ashram Road, too is soaking in the atmosphere. Team hotel sources confirmed the players have had their Gujarati fare of khakhra, fafda, dhokla, thepla, bhakhri and gota. “We have tried Gujarati dishes in the hotel but have not got a chance to go outside,” Pakistan captain Babar Azam said.
