The Bugti Stadium in Quetta was packed to the brim on Sunday evening as cricket fans gathered there to watch a live screening of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final held in Lahore.

"Quetta will win," Niamatullah Khan, an audience member waiting in a queue at the stadium gates, told Dawn.com.

The Quetta Gladiators, who qualified for the final for the second consecutive time in the tournament's two-year history, went against Peshawar Zalmi in Sunday night's decider.

Muhammad Aslam, a 23-year-old student, was one of the hundreds who lined up in a long queue to be part of the energised crowd at Bugti Stadium.

"[I support] Quetta Gladiators. I pray it wins," Aslam told Dawn.com as he showed his National Identity Card (NIC) to security officials deployed outside the ground.

The Balochistan government had arranged two large screens — one at the stadium and one at the Special High School ground — so that the people of Quetta can watch their home team play.

The local administration had asked the audience to bring their NICs to show to security officials, who were posted on all gates of the venue, before they entered the ground.

Frontier Corps personnel were deployed at Bugti Stadium to prevent any untoward incident from happening as the crowd grew.

The roads and streets of Quetta also wore a deserted look, as cricket fans who could not make it to public venues tuned in to watch the match on TV screens at home.

However, traffic was reportedly jammed at Gurdat Singh Road, where another screen had been installed for people to watch the PSL final.

"I could barely cross the road as it was crowded by cricket fans and policemen," said Nazar Muhammad Bareech, a resident of Quetta.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...