A sold-out crowd of 34,000 packed a pop-up stadium in Eisenhower Park in New York Sunday for the dream match between India and Pakistan, the BBC reported.
Those who couldn’t get in or afford the steep ticket prices watched for free at Citi Field where the New York Mets normally play.
The Tribune Express reported that rain delayed the match, but that didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the fans. The fierce rivals haven’t played against each other in New York since 1989 when Pakistan defeated India, reported 24 News.
“Who cares about the weather? I’m going to see Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah!” one fan from New Jersey told the BBC.
This time India defeated Pakistan by six runs.
Rubal Sikka who immigrated from India 25 years ago recalls playing at Eisenhower Park as a child. Now he was seeing some of his idols play on the same field.
“Never ever did we imagine that, you know, our dream players, people, sportsmen that we look up to are going to end up playing at the same exact spot that we were playing on,” he told the Tribune.
Some fans paid $2,000 for tickets on the secondary market for this event.
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