Having seen off Pakistan in a tense semi-final on Wednesday, India have had to immediately focus on the next job on hand in the long quest to repeat the World Cup victory of 1983.
Hours after they had squeezed Shahid Afridi’s men out of the running at Mohali, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team were in the capital of commercial India, but their thoughts will not be on the money — not yet, at least.
They will be reserved for the opposition in the final, Sri Lanka.
The venue for the title clash — the refurbished Wankhede Stadium — has been turned into a fortress, with a seven-layer security ring. Coastal security, too, is in place. Sri Lanka’s President, Mahinda Rajapakse, has responded to President Pratibha Patil’s invitation and the fact that the heads of state on either side will be here has only led to a further tightening of the iron cordon with NSG commandos joining the state’s forces on the job. The Mumbai police also said they were verifying the antecedents of all foreign nationals who had booked tickets online and randomly checking the backgrounds of all ticket holders.
“The President wants us (Sri Lanka) to win the World Cup as a tribute to Muttiah Muralitharan who retires from international cricket after this World Cup,” Mr Rajapakse’s spokesman, Bandula Jayasekera, told reporters in Sri Lanka. Besides them, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mrs Sonia Gandhi are expected to follow the cricket train here for Saturday’s game.
Not helping is the fact that India’s win, which triggered off nationwide parties, has raised the hopes and expectation of fans here still further.
Wankhede Stadium was under siege on Thursday and if wild stories of tickets being scalped did the rounds ahead of the Mohali game, they are even wilder here, and the numbers being thrown around do not even bear repeating.
A “no-vehicle” zone has been declared around the stadium and its immediate area. The restriction follows an advisory issued by intelligence agencies warning of a terror strike using an explosives-laden vehicle.
With this being the home of glitz and glam, Bollywood will be out in force. If Mohali drew the likes of Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Preity Zinta, Suneil Shetty and Vivek Oberoi, it is certain the star quotient here will be far higher, making things even tougher for the overextended securitymen and women.