Dubai: Cricket fans in the UAE couldn’t stay immune to the excitement surrounding the Indian Premier League with most of them rushing home early from office on Sunday to watch the final of the seventh edition of the tournament. This year’s final in Bengaluru is special for UAE cricket fans since they had thronged stadium to cheers the teams during the UAE leg of the event.
Indian celebrities who were in Dubai on business trips also didn’t want to miss out on the action. One of India’s top film directors, Priyadrashan, who arrived here on Sunday in connection with the launch of Revathy Kalamandir Film Academy, told Gulf News: “I will be watching IPL from the start peacefully with my friends.”
Priyadarshan is known to be a huge cricket fan and played the game regularly during his school days.
South Indian actor and national award winner Suresh Gopi, the brand ambassador for the Kerala Premier League, one of the UAE’s top cricket tournaments, who also flew in for the film academy function, said: “I enjoy good cricket and I watched some of the matches. The final will be exciting.”
Kings XI Punjab won many supporters here through their sterling performance during the UAE leg in April. Jiten Singh, a businessman based in Ajman who hails from Chandigarh, Punjab, said: “I have decided to watch the action by returning home early before the office-leaving traffic starts. It is a matter of pride for every Punjabi as Kings XI Punjab has made it to the IPL final for the first time.”
When the UAE was picked to host the first leg of the IPL, many had doubted whether the enthusiasm for the tournament would be as high as in India. The fans here stunned everyone by turning up in large numbers for all matches. Sunil Gavaskar, the interim president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the IPL, said: “The highlight of IPL this season has been the way the UAE leg went through. The response we got from fans and organisers there was incredible. The organisation and the management went on very smoothly as well.”
Ram Manohar, who hails from Chennai expressed disappointment that his team lost out to Kings XI Punjab in the play-offs. “Though I am a Chennai fan, I have taken off today to watch the final on television. I may support Kolkata, not because Punjab defeated Chennai, but they deserve to win for the splendid comeback after almost being eliminated.”
UAE’s level-two coach Sohail Javed, who hails from Lahore, said he too would be watching the live telecast of the final. “It was one of the hottest days in UAE with temperature around 45. The final will be as hot as our weather. I am a Punjab supporter as they played good cricket in UAE.”
