Less than two weeks after they clashed for the first time at the ICC Championships, India and Pakistan will come together to fight for the Champions Trophy 2017. And as is the case with every India Vs Pakistan match, cricket fanatics are all geared up for the clash.
As the trend for major cricket matches continues, public screenings are being hosted across town with different match-related offers. For instance, Brewbot has an offer for unlimited beers from the first ball of the match to the last, while Door Number One is offering a special half-price food menu and one-plus-two on drinks. Social Mumbai is going all out this time with huge LCD screens; cricket themed décor and several offers on drinks. An India-Pakistan final cannot be taken lightly, and pub owners are expecting an epic turnout.
“We want to make the experience special, so having a stadium-like feel is what we have aimed for. There will be dhols playing each time that India hits a four or six, and we’re also distributing funky shades and paper horns that you can blow, for the fun quotient. Depending on how excited the crowd is, we’ll do free shots too,” says Nilesh Patel, senior beverage operations manager at the Social.
Mihir Bijur, co-founder of Door No. 1, says that a supercharged atmosphere is a given since it’s an India-Pakistan match. “We’ve kept our offers simple since you have many people turning up for the game. India-Pakistan matches and Independence Day are the two events during which you can see the patriotism in all Indians,” he laughs.
Mihir recalls the last India-Pakistan screening from a couple of weeks ago. (Photo: AP)
Mihir recalls the last India-Pakistan screening from a couple of weeks ago. “We had people cheering and dancing along with the music every time someone from the Indian team hit a four or six. Forget fours; people cheered when Pakistan bowled a wide ball. It was something else to witness that, almost like sitting in a stadium and watching the match,” he adds.
Anand Morwani from Brewbot is looking forward to all the buzzed-on-beer cricket fans that he’s going to host today. “People start turning up right from the early afternoon and by four or five, there’s already a decent crowd. We’ve got a special offer on unlimited beers, but even without that, just the idea of a screening gets people to the match. And when it’s India and Pakistan, even non-cricket fans come down,” he says with a laugh.
Nilesh, who will be shuttling from branch to branch of Social tomorrow, says that it is lovely to watch the crowd respond during any match. “During the India and Bangladesh match, it was a pretty easy victory for India, but you still had people jumping and cheering every time India played well. People turned up early and stayed through the match. So, of course, for India-Pakistan, we are expecting it to be a different level of excitement altogether. I’ll be watching the game, and am super excited for it myself. After all, what Indian wouldn’t be,” he signs off.
