National flag in hand, the more than 1.20 lakh smattering of spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium broke into a rendition of AR Rahman’s Vande Mataram once Shreyas Iyer hit the winning runs. It reverbated through the stands, sending the almost packed stadium into a tizzy.

It was hard to be a neutral on Saturday. Babar Azam’s team had anticipated a sea of blue to engulf the stadium but never imagined it would hit them so hard. Shouts of ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ continuously rent the air, much to the chagrin of the visitors.

The national fervour ran high, the hugely partisan gathering making it tough for the young Pakistanis to perform at their best. Experience counts in such circumstances and the Pakistanis just wilted under the pressure.

They had it going in their favour at the start but collapsed in a heap once Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah found the breakthroughs.

While Babar did face some toxicity from the stands during the toss, the players and support staff definitely rued the lack of Pakistani supporters. By rough estimates, there was only a small handful of Pakistanis present at the ground, 11 of them in the commentary and media boxes.

Besides the sight of the now-familiar Bashir chacha in the stands, there were a few other Pakistani fans, mostly with American or British passports. However, there were hardly many moments for them to rejoice.

A man positioned on the sidelines did wave a “Pakistan jeetega” flag occasionally but that was more out of compulsion, having been asked to do so, as a show of camaraderie, by the authorities.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t (have any impact). It didn’t seem like an ICC event to be brutally honest. It seemed like a bilateral series; it seemed like a BCCI event. I didn’t hear ‘dil dil Pakistan’ coming through the microphones too often tonight,” Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said at the news conference.

“So yes, that does play a role, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse because for us it was about living the moment, it was about the next ball and it was about how we were going to combat the Indian players.”

Arthur diplomatically reserved his comment when probed if that was the ideal atmosphere to host such a World Cup match.

Huge billboards portraying ‘Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024’ for January lined up the walls adjoining the stadium’s entrance gates.

On the field, it was the story of a vibrant cricket team’s smooth and lethal
execution of plans. Pride intact, they will now march forward in their quest to conquer new peaks.