Traffic around the world’s biggest cricket stadium came to a standstill Saturday as tens of thousands of jubilant Indian fans spilled onto the roads in their march to the Cricket World Cup clash against archrivals Pakistan.

With only a handful of Pakistan fans permitted to attend the tournament’s most anticipated fixture, the roads of Ahmedabad were a sea of blue as crowds decked in India jerseys flocked to the 132,000-seater Narendra Modi Stadium.

Hawkers took up strategic positions to peddle Indian merchandise or paint the faces of supporters with the saffron, green and white of the national flag.

Periodic chants of “India will win” boomed through the air as they spread through the immense crowd like wildfire.

“This already feels so special,” said Sunil K., who travelled into Ahmedabad for the match from the other side of the country with eight friends, all wearing identical jerseys of beloved batting superstar Virat Kohli.

“I can’t imagine what it’s going to feel like inside.”

Software engineer Sunil Yadav flew into India on Friday night with a return booked in time to have him back at his desk in London on Monday morning.

“I never miss any India-Pakistan game and I flew to India specially for this. I really wanted to experience this game at the biggest possible venue,” the 42-year-old told AFP.