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.

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