TimesofIndia.com in Ahmedabad: Outside the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, there are big cutouts of two captains Shreyas Iyer and Rajat Patidar. The handful of fans hoping to see Virat Kohli were perplexed to see the image of Rajat Patidar. "Who is he?," asked one of the fans outside Gate No. 1. The vendor, who was busy selling jerseys, replied angrily, "he is the captain of the team whose jersey you are buying."
The poor guy had no clue about Rajat Patidar, and murmured, "wasn't Kohli the captain?"
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! The vendors aren’t particularly fans of the sport but they have a lot of hopes riding on the proceedings and the outcomes.
"There isn't a buzz this time around. We failed to sell Rohit Sharma's jersey ahead of Qualifier 2, and now we are struggling to find buyers for Kohli's. We don’t care who wins as long as we are selling jerseys. Hopefully, we will have more sales on Tuesday," said Krupal, before he started chanting the rates of the jerseys.
Like Krupal, Mohammed Aslam sells wristbands, caps, and flags. Aslam jogs down memory lane and reminisced about the IPL 2023 final match between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings.
"Despite the heavy rain, the fans from CSK, who had travelled from Chennai, were so passionate. We sold all our items, but this time around, there is no such hype," he laughed.
Krupal and Aslam are not wrong about the mood ahead of the final. On Sunday, hardly 50,000 people turned up to watch the Qualifier 2 match between Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians. There were no buyers for many of the hospitality boxes as they were empty.
The IPL final, which was shifted to the world's biggest stadium in Ahmedabad, has failed to create any buzz in the city. Hyderabad and Kolkata were supposed to host the playoffs as per the original dates but the venues were changed citing "weather conditions." The rain, however, has continued to follow the business end of the cash-rich league as there was a heavy shower ahead of Qualifier 2 and a light spell is expected on Tuesday as well.
Even if the weather permits and the match goes ahead, it would be interesting to see whether the title clash will be able to fill the Narendra Modi Stadium.
In the pre-match press conference, both captains chose to keep cards close to their chests. Shreyas Iyer spoke about lack of sleep while a soft-spoken and very un-RCB-like captain Rajat Patidar reserved praise for the fans and vowed not to get bogged down by the unreal expectation.
The PBKS players, tired from their rain-affected marathon match, didn't turn up for the training session. Captain Shreyas left the venue after the photo shoot but RCB did train for around two hours.
Once RCB left the ground, the pitch and the inner ring were immediately covered, and final touches were applied to the makeshift stage for the closing ceremony. India's leading musician Shankar Mahadevan, accompanied by his sons Siddharth and Shivam, will deliver a special performance in a tribute to India's armed forces.
Who's that IPL player?“See you at the FINAL tomorrow ❤️ What an honour this is!!!” Shivam Mahadevan shared his excitement on Instagram.
Buzz or no buzz, one thing is for sure: there will be a new IPL champion. Between Bengaluru and Punjab, the wait of one franchise will end.