27 May,2022 07:36 AM IST | Ahmedabad | Harit Joshi
Anil Patel, Joint Secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association
A mammoth 1.25 lakh spectators are set to converge at Motera's Narendra Modi Stadium to witness the Indian Premier League (IPL) final on Sunday. The last time there was a lakh-plus gathering here was when then US president Donald Trump visited India in 2020 - a month before Covid-19 disrupted things.
This is easily the largest gathering of cricket fans at this venue. When the first international match was played at the revamped stadium in February 2021 - a day-night Test between India and England that got over in two days - only 50 per cent capacity was permitted due to the pandemic. The T20I series that followed was played behind closed doors after a rapid rise in Coronavirus cases after the first match between India and England.
With no major Covid-19 scare at the moment, the world's biggest cricket stadium is finally set to come to life with the Qualifier-2 today followed by the summit clash 48 hours later. Gujarat Titans, who topped the table and then beat Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier-1 to storm into the final, is the added bonanza for the locals.
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An added attraction will be the IPL-15 closing ceremony where the likes of music maestro AR Rahman and Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh are set to perform before the final. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will also grace the occasion and there is talk that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be here too.
According to Anil Patel, Joint Secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA), tickets for the final are already sold out and there is a huge demand for tickets for today's clash. "Thanks to Virat Kohli's RCB making the grade, seats for Qualifier-2 are filling up fast. The final will be a full house too. For the first time, the world will witness 1.25 lakh people at a cricket match. This could be a world record. Our official capacity is 1.32 lakh, but some seats near the sightscreens will be blocked and certain tickets will not be for sale. The final numbers of how many are in attendance will be available on match day. It's a momentous occasion for the GCA to be hosting these two very important IPL games," Patel told mid-day on Thursday.
