National fervour runs high in IPL closing ceremony before summit clash

Ahmedabad: "Sabse aage honge Hindustani" and “Dushman ke chhakke chhudaa de, hum India wale” were among the songs performed as national fervour was the central theme of the closing ceremony ahead of the Indian Premier League final between RCB and Punjab Kings here on Tuesday.

“Honouring the Indian armed forces”, “Salute to the armed forces” and “Thank you armed forces" were the message displayed across the digital boards used for advertising and sharing match-related information near the boundary as well as on the first tier of the world’s largest stadium here.

Bollywood playback singer Shankar Mahadevan along with his sons Siddharth and Shivam enthralled the near capacity crowd.

The songs from war-themed movie Lakshya titled “Kandhon se milte hai kandhe” and “Lakshya”, “Ae watan mere aabad rahe tu”, “Vande Mataram” (AR Rahman composed) were among the songs performed with "sabse aage honge Hindustani" being the final one.

The ceremony took place before the summit clash of the 18th edition of world’s biggest T20 tournament between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings.

The players trained in the background with RCB being the first team to take the field for their warm-ups followed by their rivals PBKS soon after.

The tournament was suspended for 10 days last month when the country’s armed forces were executing Operation Sindoor -- a military operation in response to Pakistan backed terrorists killing 26 Indian citizens in Kashmir' Pahalgam.