Amit Mohite stepped into Calcutta airport on Sunday in the same Team India jersey he had been wearing while boarding a flight from Bangalore on Saturday.

He wasn't the only one with a happy hangover the morning after the party at Eden.

The departure level of the airport was a blur of blue as hundreds of fans who had flown into the city over the past two days to watch the India-Pakistan match headed back home, many of them promising to return in two weeks.

Amit, a bank executive, had spent Rs 34,000 on air tickets and another Rs 15,000 on a seat at Eden and a night's stay in a hotel on Little Russell Street, a 10-minute drive from the stadium.

He is already invested for the April 3 final, based on the unshakeable belief that M.S. Dhoni and Co would brook no stopping after having crossed the Pakistan hurdle.

"I booked tickets for the final this morning. I was so excited after last night's victory that I slept with my jersey beside my pillow. I couldn't help putting it back on for the journey back home," the young man said.

 

His colleague Avinash Khandelwal was unable to speak because of a sore throat, the result of screaming continuously through the match. "He was at his loudest at the Eden Gardens. Even after the match ended, he was cheering at the top of his voice. He is barely audible now!" quipped Amit.

Like Amit, Delhi-based businessman Riteish Sanuja isn't willing to wait and see whether Team India makes it to the next stage of the tournament before booking his seat for the final. He had paid Rs 7,000 for a ticket priced Rs 1,500 for Saturday night's match.

"I spent a lot of money to watch the India-Pakistan match (Rs 29,000 on a one-way air ticket alone), but the result was worth it. The way (Virat) Kohli played, I am confident India will make it to the final and so I am already booking my match and air tickets. I don't want to be late and end up desperate for tickets," Riteish said.

In the throng of fans checking in for various flights were Class XII student Rajat Mahajan and his father Vijay, who were returning to Chandigarh. They had complimentary tickets for the match that Dharamsala was to host, but did not hesitate to change their plans after the tie was shifted to Calcutta because of security reasons.

"I could not take my son to the India-Pakistan match in Mohali during the 2011 World Cup and he is still upset about that. So it was a moral obligation for me to take him to this match. I somehow managed to get tickets for Eden and flew down here," recounted Vijay, an engineer employed with the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh.

Father and son were as bowled over by the atmosphere at Eden as they were by Kohli's T20 batting masterclass.

"The ground, the stands, the people, the roar, the national anthem sung by Amitabh Bachchan and, finally, Virat Kohli. The Eden Gardens won my heart and I will remember this match for a long time. The ground was huge and I think it is much better than the one we have at Mohali," Rajat gushed.

Vijay Balakrishnan, the CEO of a private company in Bangalore, and wife Amrita had bought tickets to the match long ago and even booked a hotel room in Dharamsala. When the tie moved to Calcutta, the duo decided they wouldn't miss the excitement of an India-Pakistan match in a world tournament for anything. "We had to book everything all over again and were lucky to get through the online lottery, which allowed us to buy two tickets to the match," said Balakrishnan, 43.

When India was three down for 23, Amrita had all but given up hope. But her husband wouldn't despair since Kohli and Dhoni were there. "I knew as long as these two were there, we would definitely win the match. And see, we made it!" he said.

The couple had been to Adelaide last year for the India-Pakistan match at the ODI World Cup. They stayed back till the final, although India lost to Australia in the semifinal.

So, how does Eden compare to Adelaide in terms of atmosphere? "I found the ground similar to the one in Melbourne rather than Adelaide," Balakrishnan said.

Outside the airport, app cabs and taxis registered with hotels made multiple trips till late afternoon."We rarely see such a rush on a Sunday," an airport official said.

There were long queues at the entry gates and half an hour was the average time for a passenger to go through check-in and security check, which normally takes 15 to 20 minutes.

Most flights to Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore were full on Sunday, airline officials said.