Dhaka, the host city of the opening match of ICC World Twenty20, has been dazzling with different colours amid festivity writ large in the air.
Every street, intersections and all the corners of the city have been decorated with an extra coat of paint.
Amid such a scene, cricket loving people stayed in long queue under hot and bright sunny day in front of all the entry gates of Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium – the home of cricket – before the match started on Sunday at 3:30 pm.
Surprisingly, some people were collecting their tickets from the scalpers just on the opposite side of gate No 5 despite the tight security and the hi-tech ticket selling system.
The cricket venue looked like someone’s wedding place, decorated with different colourful elements.
Thousands of youths, carrying placards marked 6 or 4 and posters or boards with ‘Bravo Bangladesh’, ‘We like cricket’, and so on.
Some were seen wearing different styles of T-shirt while some others painted themselves as clowns to support and encourage their favourite Tigers.
Carrying of national flag by highly-charged youths, and singing and dancing in tune with high-pitched songs were a common sight inside and around the venue, and also elsewhere in the capital city.
Media personnel were busy to gather news, information, taking photos or writing their assigned reports inside or outside the venues.
Security personnel have taken up their positions, flash mob videos have been used by people frequently and uploaded on different social media and almost everything else was in place for the World T20.
Bangladesh and Afghanistan took to the field in the opening match with the threat of elimination hanging over both teams as only one team will qualify from Group A of the World T20’s first round.
The result of this particular match will set the future mood of the tournament in the country of hosts Bangladesh.
The match was full of emotional highs and the tension was at its peak as the first game of the tournament went underway.
