Sri Lanka's Papare Band brings Bollywood flavour to Asia Cup final in Dubai

While waiting in the long queues to enter the Dubai International Stadium under the scorching sun, both sets of fans were greeted with rhythmic beats from a group of Sri Lankans.

It was the famous Papare Band from the island nation, playing the trumpets and the drums two hours before the first ball was bowled in the DP World Asia Cup final between Sri Lanka and Pakistan on Sunday.

And their choice of music resonated with the fans.

Moving ahead as a group, the band members kept their heads down and belted out Ek, Do, Teen (One, two three) from Tezaab, the 1988 Bollywood blockbuster that made a young Madhuri Dixit an overnight star across South Asia.

The Papare Band is not new to the UAE.

This group of talented musicians has been entertaining cricket fans in almost all Sri Lankan matches in the UAE for many years.

Nalin De Silva, a UAE-based Sri Lankan expat, is among a group of cricket fans that raise money for the Papare Band’s cricket tours.

“This is the Papare Band, wherever we go to watch cricket, we take them. They are a unique band. We have this concept, whenever there is a Sri Lanka match, the Papare band has to be there,” De Silva, who is proud of sharing his second name with legendary Sri Lankan batsman Aravinda, told Khaleej Times.

“We travel a lot for cricket, we have our jobs here. So we sponsor their trips. They don’t live here. They live in Sri Lanka. We raise money for their trips. This time it was very expensive. For tickets alone, we had to spend more than three thousand dirhams per person.”

The Papare Band was a big hit with the fans during the T20 World Cup as well in the UAE last year.

“There are five of us who have coordinated to bring this band from Sri Lanka. We also got them to the UAE during the last World Cup,” De Silva said.