Ahmedabad: Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmedabad in Gujarat, was a hot cauldron, what with the congregation of sea of fans of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), to watch their favourite team play the finals of IPL T20 cricket tournament against Punjab Kings (PBKS).

With most popular cricketer Virat Kohli in RCB squad, the fans waving Kannada flag, mostly from Bengaluru, the nerve centre of RCB, came out to watch the game in large numbers. What acted as a spur was, the recent decision of Kohli to retire from test cricket that was masked by the usual excitement and 18-number jersey of Kohli, the highlight of the evening.

Arguably, the RCB fans outnumbered that of PKBS, with the reams of videos shot live from the stadium shared on social networking sites. Joining them was multilingual actor Saikumar of ‘Police Story’ fame, who was among the lakhs of spectators on ground.

“The stadium is filled with spectators raising the slogan RCB… RCB… Most of them were from Bengaluru,” said Saikumar, summing up the mood in one line.

Ahead of the final match, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, former United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the son-in-law of home grown IT giant N.R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys fame, Kannada film actor Ramesh Arvind, Hat Trick Hero Shivarajkumar, former cricketer Anil Kumble had wished for the victory of RCB.

Fans across the State including Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, Hassan, Bengaluru, Hubballi, Haveri, Shivamogga, Davangere  and other districts had conducted homa and havans, besides offering a special puja at temples.

At Male Mahadeshwara Hills (M.M. Hills), the cricket fans had broken idugayis (coconut) praying the deity for RCB’s victory.