Adelaide: Since the quarter-final matches are scheduled four days in a row, anyone wishing to watch all matches has no option but to leave for the airport straight from the stadium after the match.
Most airports are filled with fans flying to the next centre following their team. Many of these flights leave early in the morning, with fans seen wearing their team’s jersey, with which they had watched and celebrated their team’s victory, to continue savouring the moments of joy. And in places like Adelaide and Hobart, where it is windy and cold, they wrap themselves with the flags they had been waving all day.
If you are following just one country, then it is quite relaxed. There is a good break before the semi-final matches start.
But for ardent cricket fans like Dubai-based businessman Anis Sajan, who has decided not to miss a single match until the final, it is a mad race.
Sajan, who is the Managing Director of Danube Group and owner of the Danube team that plays in UAE domestic cricket, said: “I was hoping to be here during the 1992 World Cup, but I could not afford the financial expenses then. This time I am living my dream with my son Sahil.”
Sajan flew to Sydney from Dubai for the first quarter-final between Sri Lanka and South Africa, and then to Melbourne for the India-Bangladesh match, and was there for the Australia-Pakistan match.
He will fly to Wellington for the last quarter-final and watch both semi-finals and the final too. He will even be travelling more than former Indian captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar, who is his company’s brand ambassador.
“My team is made up of all nationalities, so it does not matter to me who is playing, although I am an Indian team supporter. I want to watch the best players giving their best,” Sajan said.
After reports that fans from India flying to Adelaide had heated arguments and physical altercations with the airline staff of Air India due to a delay in take-off from New Delhi, airport authorities are making sure that fans are made comfortable.
Small domestic airports like Hobart, which rarely handle so many passengers at one time, found it tough to cope with the rush. Once the teams land as well, the arrival terminal suddenly looked like an over-crowded railway station.
Airport authorities have urged fans to check-in manually at the kiosks so they merely have to drop off their bags. One staff member at the kiosk helping out a Sri Lankan passenger key in his long name was heard saying: “I think you have made sure all the English letters are there in your name.”
It is fun travelling with happy fans as they come up with witty comments. When India’s Shikhar Dhawan took the catch of Bangladesh star batsman Mohammad Mahmudullah after many attempts, a fan remarked that Dhawan could be someone who had passed his exams after many failed attempts.
As a journalist, very often I am asked who is likely to win the World Cup, so when a lady at the airport check-in counter told me who she thinks should win, it was a pleasant change. “I want India, which has the highest number of cricket followers, to win this World Cup as it can make one billion people happy,” she said.
