Flying to India for the Cricket World Cup Final 🇮🇳

Harry flies to Ahmedabad in Gujarat for the 2023 Cricket World Cup final — India against Australia — having bought the tickets the day before and booked nowhere to stay. Most of the first half is the consequence: four hotels, prices inflated several times over by the match, and a negotiation he wins partly by arguing that Hinduism requires treating a guest as a god.

The rest is the occasion. A hundred thousand people, almost all of them in blue, a fighter jet flypast, and a crowd that cheers for Virat Kohli as though the other ten players aren’t on the field. India post 240, Australia chase it comfortably, and the ground empties before the end.

Key moments

• [00:00] No hotel. The tickets were bought the day before.
• [00:32] A journalist on the flight explains security will be unusually tight because the prime minister is attending — and that his own press approval may not cover the final.
• [01:05] The last-minute flight cost about £115.
• [01:40] The entire plane is going to the cricket. It leaves five hours late, apparently to make way for charter flights.
• [02:49] A tuk-tuk opens at 900. Harry counters at 400 having checked the ride app at 300, and gets it.
• [04:34] He drives the tuk-tuk himself, and stalls it.
• [06:16] A man rides up alongside in traffic to say he watches the videos.
• [07:21] The Hyatt is quoted at around 3,000 a night, so they keep walking.
• [07:56] A man asks for his autograph and claims to be playing in the final, friends with Kohli, and friends with Modi.
• [10:06] Hotel two: 5,750, against a normal rate of 3,000.
• [10:39] Hotel three: fully booked.
• [11:16] Hotel four opens at 10,000 for two nights — and Harry’s negotiating line is that in Hinduism you treat the guest as a god, so treat him accordingly.
• [11:52] Settled at 7,000, plus a 1,000-rupee side bet on the result which the owner wins.
• [13:05] The room, at roughly $80–100, which he judges purely a function of supply and demand rather than value.
• [14:11] The crush outside the ground, which he compares to a video game.
• [14:41] A fake India shirt at 200 rupees against 1,000 for the official one, and a flag at 200. About three dollars all in.
• [17:02] The crowd outside, including a man who has invented the job of face-painter for the day.
• [18:37] Heavy security, and the teams arriving.
• [19:10] Australian fans, entirely unbothered and saying so.
• [22:30] Harry interviews fans while claiming to work for the BBC, which nobody questions.
• [24:43] Inside. Enormous, hot, and not exclusively Indian — South African, Dutch and English fans in the stands.
• [25:44] Capacity, per the man next to him, 110,000. Harry guesses nearer 130,000.
• [26:45] The crowd cheers Kohli specifically, which he says is unlike anything he’s seen for a single player.
• [27:16] Australia win the toss and bowl.
• [27:53] A fighter jet flypast that catches him completely off guard.
• [30:21] A stadium samosa, which he says he knows a good samosa and this isn’t one.
• [31:33] India post 240 and Australia start well.
• [32:51] The noise goes out of the ground and people begin leaving.
• [33:25] Australia win.

Extracted pages

• Place: Ahmedabad
• Country: India
• Tips: Haggle with a reference price