3 min readAhmedabadMar 8, 2026 02:41 AM IST
THE TEAMS – India and New Zealand – have reached the city. Practice sessions are on. Fans have gathered around the stadium in the hope of catching a glimpse of the stars and making reels.
The countdown to a world cup final is never complete without the jerseys in blue hanging on the pillars of the metro rail line, remains of political posters visible underneath, the caps laid out in neat rows on the street, the tricolours hoisted on a pole and the vendors wooing buyers.
Over a kilometre to the entrance of the Narendra Modi stadium at Motera the excitement builds up to the Mens’ T20 World Cup Finals between India and New Zealand to be held here on Sunday, where pop icon Ricky Martin will perform in the closing ceremony.
Many supporters have travelled long distances to experience the frenzy of a World Cup final including the jersey vendors. Abbas came all the way from Delhi and says attending major finals has become “a personal tradition” for him. “It’s always my effort to watch the finals, especially when the World Cup is happening in India”, he tells The Indian Express hoping that India wins. “But of course it is the toss and the pitch conditions that will play a critical role in determining the outcome”, he adds quickly.
The highly anticipated clash on Sunday has also drawn international visitors. A tourist from Germany, who identifies himself as Tobi, said it would be his first time ever watching a cricket match. “I’m more excited about the event and the people,” he said. His friend Will from New Zealand said he was eager to watch his team play and believed the match would be a “closely contested” one.
“My heart was broken during the 2023 World Cup final. I hope this time we recover everything and India wins,” said Manoj Sontakke, a fan who travelled from Pune to watch the match. In the 2023 match Australia had won by six wickets against India.
“My entire friend circle is coming to watch the final. In fact, I have sponsored all of their tickets,” said Sontakke, whose friends also came along from the neighbouring state.
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Meanwhile, vendors selling team merchandise outside the stadium are witnessing a surge in business ahead of the final. Javed Saifi, who travelled from Delhi to sell jerseys, said demand for Indian team jerseys has been overwhelming. “The atmosphere is very good, and the sales are also going quite well,” Saifi said, adding, “Only India’s jersey is being sold. We haven’t sold a single New Zealand jersey yet.” He added that fans are mostly asking for jerseys of popular Indian players. “Everyone is asking for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Even though they have retired from T20s, people still want their names on the jerseys,” Saifi said. Among the current players, he said, jerseys of Sanju Samson and Hardik Pandya are also in demand.
Saifi said the jerseys are being sold in the range of ₹200 to ₹500 depending on their quality, adding that vendors expect sales to rise further on match day as thousands of fans arrive at the stadium.
(Aryan Matthews is an intern at the Ahmedabad office of The Indian Express.)
