Drums, crackers, euphoria: City erupts on India’s victory

Ahmedabad: The city witnessed history at the highly-anticipated, albeit one-sided final of the ICC T20 Men's World Cup. The cherry on top? City boy Jaspreet Bumrah's magic spell. As Abhishek Sharma took Jacob Duffy's wicket with one over to spare, fans erupted in euphoria, punctuating their joy with firecrackers and drum rolls.All roads led to the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera. In the evening, fans wearing the India jersey were seen heading to the venue in their own vehicles, autos and cabs. At Metro stations, fans spilled out of the trains like a blue sea. While a packed stadium showed the enthusiasm and excitement to see the Men in Blue in action against the Kiwis, those watching from homes remained glued to their TVs while others gathered at public screenings organized by their societies or by commercial establishments, not wanting to miss the thrill of watch the game on a large screen and cheering for their team. Harshad Patel, who organized a public viewing at Bhudarpura Chowk near Ambawadi, said that more than 100 people celebrated the win by bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets. In fact, they were sure India would lift the Cup."It was a good World Cup for India. Certain that India would keep the Cup, we had stocked on firecrackers and sweets before the start of the match. While India batted well, our bowlers too did an amazing job of restricting the Kiwis," he said, adding, "The victory in Ahmedabad was special, especially after our ODI World Cup disappointment of 2023 at the same venue."Sanjay Parmar, who missed watching the match in the stadium, said, "I tried until the last minute to get into the stadium, but a viewing with a group of friends in South Bopal made up for it." "It felt like we were watching highlights, not a live cricket match. We didn't even sit even for a minute during power play. To watch Abhishek, Sanju and Ishan play was like watching history in the making," said Nirjari Shah, a jewelry entrepreneur who managed to get tickets a day before the match. "They were only hitting fours and sixes. It was electrifying," she added.