Manchester: Beginning of May, on a sunny yet chilly day with freezing breeze, the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire Cricket Club, seems more than peaceful.
Not a sound anywhere, except a few Indian tourists, most probably cricket fans, here and there, who managed to visit the place barely six weeks before the most awaited match in the World Cup 2019 takes place June 16 when arch rivals India and Pakistan face off at the Old Trafford. Manchester is amongst the six English cities that will receive internationals teams for the showpiece event as well as thousands of fans from around the world.
According to Cricket Lancashire, 70 per cent of the enquiries for the India-Pakistan match have come from India and the tickets were sold-out within 48 hours.
Besides the India-Pakistan Match, Manchester will also host the India-West Indies match. For nearly a year, the city has been preparing to receive the Indian fans for the big event. They hope that though they may be here for the game, they would take the opportunity to explore not just Manchester city but also the surrounding areas.
“For the India-Pakistan game, there will be a special fan zone in the city. It’s actually an area dedicated to cricket fans and has been organised by ICC. It will move from one city to another and during the weekend of June 16, it will be in Manchester. We will have big screens to watch the India-Pakistan game and other matches. We have also created a special website for visit Manchester, that’s a guide to what Indian visitors will particularly want to see around. It also gives information about where to get Indian or vegetarian food,” said Tim Manley, Marketing Manager in-charge of India at Marketing Manchester.
Troubled airline Jet Airways recently stopped the only direct flight to Manchester from Mumbai, but according to the travel trade, it had no particular impact on travel to the cricket world cup.
And even if many won’t be amongst the lucky 26,000 who will get a seat at the stadium for the India-Pakistan match, many will certainly come to the city to watch the game from as close as possible to the India team and feel the vibrancy of that night.
The night before the big match, a huge concert will notably be organised in the city by Bharat Army with noted Punjabi singer Guru Randhawa. It seems Manchester will shift from its vibrant red to a wave of blue in the month of June.
IANS