New Delhi: A special train for cricket fans travelling from New Delhi to Ahmedabad for the Cricket World Cup is being run today by the Indian Railways.
This initiative comes as a relief for fans who were grappling with exorbitant airfares, ranging between Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000.
The final showdown, featuring the cricketing giants India and Australia, is slated for Sunday, November 19, at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium.
The train offers seats at a much lower price than the airfare, with prices ranging from Rs 620 for a sleeper seat to Rs 3490 for a 1st AC seat. The 3AC economy and 3AC seats are priced at Rs 1525 and Rs 1665, respectively. The train will depart from Delhi today evening and reach Ahmedabad tomorrow morning. After the match, the train will depart from Ahmedabad at 2:30 am for Delhi.
In addition to this train, three similar trains are being run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. India and Australia are set to lock horns in the highly anticipated finale on Sunday. Former cricketers talked about the team that could potentially emerge victorious and go down in the history books as champions.
Former skipper Sourav Ganguly believes that the key to success in the final lies in India playing the brand of cricket they have in the entire tournament.
"India is looking smashing at the moment. I wish them all the best for Ahmedabad. India have played very well in the tournament and just one match and Australia stand between them and the World Cup trophy. If India continue to play like how they have performed in the tournament so far, then it will be tough to stop them. It will be a good match as Australia have a good team as well," Ganguly told reporters on Friday.
Former speedster Ashok Dinda deemed India "unbeatable" hailing the collective performance of the team throughout the tournament. "India is unbeatable. They have performed well in all three (batting, bowling, and fielding) departments at the ODI World Cup 2023. India have dominated all their 10 matches in the tournament,".
Along with the former Indian stars, ex-Australian player Michael Bevan has called the Men in Blue "clear favourites" but also pointed out one factor that could shift the tides in favour of the Baggy Greens.
"Reaching the World Cup final is a tremendous achievement something that doesn't happen very often. We have two teams playing in the final who are at their top form. The Australians have a lot of talents and have players who can make a difference at any point in a game. I believe the Aussies need to improve their batting. India are the clear favourite but the potential for Australia to win the ODI World Cup 2023 is also there.
Whoever wins the toss will be going to bat first, since it is a good batting team. After a slow start in the tournament, they have made a tremendous comeback," Bevan told ANI. (ANI)