Tens of thousands of cricket fans, undoubtedly the king of sport in South Asia, began to gather this Saturday morning around the stadium in the Indian city of Ahmedabad before the long-awaited match between the hosts India and Pakistan, with occasion of the World Cup.
Pakistan is playing on Indian soil for the first time in a decade, and the mood in this western city could not be higher at the entrance to the Narendra Modi stadium, named after the current prime minister of India, with a capacity of 132,000.
Dressed in the blue jerseys of the host team, whistles and flags of the Asian country, Indian fans gathered in large numbers waiting for the match to start this afternoon, according to images broadcast by Delhi television NDTV.
Pakistan's fans were conspicuous by their absence, among the problems in obtaining visas bitterly criticized in the Pakistani press, a situation that even affected the fans of their team and led to an official complaint before the situation was resolved. .
The city's hotels have multiplied by ten the usual price of their rooms for these dates due to high demand, according to Indian media reports.
The match between both teams is the first on non-neutral territory that they have played under cricket's main format, lasting 50 innings, since Pakistan's senior team last visited India in 2012.
The two great enemies of the cricket world are also off the field, since India and Pakistan have maintained a historic rivalry since the independence of the subcontinent from the British Empire in 1947, mainly due to their dispute over the Kashmir region, for which They have fought two wars and several minor conflicts.
