The World Cup cricket final fever is sweeping Ethiopia despite the African nation not being a cricket playing nation.

From Broadway Hotel on the outskirts of the city, which has put up a special big screen for one and all to watch the match to the upmarket Hilton, where not only was the Indian Embassy hosting a ‘by invitation only' screening, to one of the televisions at the bar that was beaming the action live.

While the Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Bhagwant Bishnoi was one of the first fans to arrive at the special screening, the nine-member Indian Army delegation here to modernise the military training college, to Anil Tumu, a representative of the Bangalore-based Karuturi group, the world's largest growers of roses to Jaswinder Singh, Business Development Manager of an affiliate of Alcatel-Lucent were all there to cheer every shot, every wicket and marvel at famous Bollywood and Indian industry leaders watching the match.

The fall of every Sri Lankan wicket would see the theme song from the Hindi film Chak De India being played and fans breaking into a Bhangra even as they feasted on a sumptuous Indian meal which was laid out.

“I would not miss this for anything. Luckily for me, all the matches India has played have been on the weekend so I have watched them all. While I am cheering here, many of our friends who were not fortunate enough to come here, are cheering at Broadway,” said Singh. At the Hilton Bar, Mustafa Khan, on a business visit, kept pushing back his departure for a meeting till the last minute to catch one more ball being bowled.

As the day progressed, the crowd at the Hilton swelled and became more boisterous with decibel levels reaching a deafening high. For those who were not fortunate enough to be at Broadway or Hilton, the mobile phone was a godsend with SMSs from back home keeping them posted on the match.

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