Qadhafi Stadium a venue away from venue

LAHORE, March 30: The Qadhafi Stadium attracted a 13,000-strong cricket fans on Wednesday to watch the match live on big screens. The Qadhafi Stadium was also to host a semi-final in the original schedule of the mega event. Later, Pakistan was ousted from the hosting countries. During the second semi-final of the ICC World Cup, the PCB installed big screens making the venue the biggest point of the city to watch the pre-final. The presence of vociferous fans, who cheered, danced and chanted slogans for every good work of the Pakistan team made the stadium as a real venue of the match. Fans started arriving at the stadium well before the start of the grueling encounter and gradually it was almost half-full when India finished the innings. When Pakistan started the innings, more people had reached the venue. During the lunch break, prominent singers Arif Lohar and Jawad Ahmad performed much to the delight of the crowed. N adeem Ahmed, a spectator wearing green shirt, said that he enjoyed every ball in the stadium. Natasha, another fan who had come to the ground with her family from Shahdara, said though there were many points in the city to see the match on big screens, she preferred the stadium as it was the very right place for such an activity. Police were deployed in and around the stadium to maintain the law and order situation. Also, in other parts of the city, big screens were installed by fans on streets, roads, hotels, mohallas and shopping plazas in almost all the areas of the city. cinemas: Major cinemas of the city on Wednesday showed the Pakistan-India match on big screens instead of movies, as cricket mania gripped the Lahore like other parts of the country. Some of the major cinemas of the city like Metropol, DHA, Sozo World, Cinestar, PFA and Angoori showed the match. According to Qaiser Sanaullah, chairman of the Cinema Management Association, people i n good numbers watched the match in cinemas, which charged Rs150 to Rs600. Private screenings of the match at many places in the city also added spice to the semi final between Pakistan and India.