Diwali came early to Calcutta on Sunday evening after India beat New Zealand in a tense encounter to lift the Champions Trophy.
Behala to Ballygunge to Baranagar, fireworks lit up the night sky.
As Ravindra Jadeja hit the winning runs, pubs, drawing rooms and clubs erupted in joy.
The festivities spilled out on the streets and many went for a joyride while waving flags and clad in jerseys.
Arshad Alam, a resident of Kidderpore, was out on the road with his friends and family after India won the match.
“We immediately took out our car and went out with the flag fluttering out of a window. We had also done the same thing after India won the T20 World Cup (June 30, 2024),” he said.
The festivities followed an intense duel on the field. The final had all the elements of a potboiler and lived up to the billing. As the match kept swinging from one way to another, the city’s mood kept changing.
“Rakhe Rohit maare ke (who can harm you when Rohit is your saviour),” said a middle-aged man in front of a club in Paddapukur in Bhowanipore.
He was part of a crowd watching the match on a giant screen set up by a local club.
The Indian captain was then taking the Kiwi bowlers to the cleaners, scoring 76 from 83 balls.
At Capella, a rooftop microbrewery and restaurant on the 20th floor of the AltAir Hotel in Sector V, every boundary the India captain struck was greeted by a cheer that was louder than before. Many had turned up in Team India shirts.
“He was not in great form. But what a comeback. It shows he is a big-match player,” said Vaibhav Agarwal, a software engineer who lives in New Town and had come with a couple of friends to watch the second innings at the rooftop
pub.
Around 7.30pm, when the Hitman show was in full flow, the city roads were deserted. The stores selling electronic and FMCG products had small crowds outside, watching the match on display TV screens through the glass windows.
But a flurry of wickets — Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Rohit himself — changed the mood.
At What’s Up Cafe on Southern Avenue, nerves were taut. Sreyash Iyer and Axar Patel were trying to steady the ship, rocked by the quick wickets.
Rajyashree Mukherjee, 43, came from Jadavpur with a group of friends. Tricolour painted on her right cheek, she waved a “six” placard with fervour as Iyer belted one out of the park. But she could not stop thinking about the dismissals of Virat and Rohit.
“We had faith in Kohli. But he came and went. It was disappointing. Rohit was playing so well. But he took a risk and perished. We have our fingers crossed now,” said Mukherjee, employed with a multinational tech company.
Dibyendu Bhattacharya, who was watching the match with friends and family members at the drawing room of his Mukundapur apartment, could not bear to watch the middle overs of the Indian innings.
“When Iyer and Patel played two successive maiden overs, I went out of the room, to the garden below and took a stroll. I came back after a good 15 minutes,” said Bhattacharya, who works in the marketing department of a private insurance company.
The South City mall had set up a giant screen at their atrium where the match was screened live from the Dubai International Stadium.
Many stores were empty but the atrium and the floors above were crowded near the railings, by people who had their eyes glued to the screen.
Around 3pm, the mall erupted in joy. The dangerous Kiwi opener Rachin Ravindra, who had just started batting aggressively, was bowled by Kuldeep Yadav.
Barely 10 minutes later, another roar came out of Lord of the Drinks, a gastropub at South City Mall, which was packed.
It was to celebrate the dismissal of Kane Williamson, who was foxed by Yadav in the 13th over.
One of those cheering the dismissal was Arka Das, a Garia resident who was watching the match with four friends. The 34-year-old has just landed a new job in Hyderabad. “This is the last Sunday in the city. What better way to celebrate it than rooting for Team India together,” said Das.