India v Pakistan - a clash that has become bigger than Cricket World Cup itself

The World Cup started on October 5. But on Saturday, it makes a fresh start. A bit contrived, but brimming with excitement.

India v Pakistan is a rare occurrence in cricket. It comes about once every four years in ODI World Cups. It is happening for the first time in India in any format in seven years. Ahmedabad is hosting Pakistan for the first time after a decade. And all this is coming together at the biggest cricket stadium in the world.

The weight of expectations will be as heavy as the support columns that hold up the towering Narendra Modi Stadium. It is a sight to behold on normal day. But on Friday, it was even more imposing, swarming with thousands of police personnel and security forces, fortifying what is the most precious fixture in cricket, and among the most valuable in all sport.

So valuable, tickets were being offered for dozens of times over their face value. Same with hotel rooms, which are all but sold out.

That was partly because of the delay in announcing the schedule and tickets. A mad scramble for a seat or two at the 132,000 capacity venue became impossible to contain.

The Indian cricket board released another batch of tickets recently, although there is not clarity over whether the match was already a sell-out, as had been reported.

An even bigger issue has been hotel rooms – there simply aren’t enough for cater to the sudden influx of fans. Mediocre rooms are being given out for many times the usual asking rates.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 - India Practice

There are a few who anticipated the issues, and planned accordingly. When the fixtures were announced in June, a group of software engineers from Hyderabad – Ranjith, Girish, Pavan and Vamshi – first booked hotel rooms, and then waited for