A jam-packed gallery is a common sight whenever India and Bangladesh square off in any global tournament.

That, however, was not the case today, when the two neighbouring countries opened their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign in Dubai -- a city that harbours many expats from both India and Bangladesh.

Hence, it was quite a surprise to the visiting journos from both countries covering the event to see that the 25,000-capacity Dubai International Cricket Stadium had only around 10,000 spectators present during Bangladesh's innings, with the upper gallery remaining almost empty.

This reporter talked to the fans and turns out, the fact that it was a weekday meant many natives could not make it to catch the action live from the ground as they had to be at their workplace.

Only a handful were lucky to take leave from their workplace while some claimed to have made up some excuses to watch the game from the stands.

SM Jahangir Hossain Parvez, however, didn't need to take any leave or make up any excuses to watch today's game as he owned his own business in Abu Dhabi.

Parvez is a seasoned and passionate cricket fan, who also had ties with Oriental Club where former national skipper Tamim Iqbal made his Dhaka Premier League debut in the early 2000s.

"Whichever team from Bangladesh comes here, we go to the venue to support them. The women's team recently played here in the T20 World Cup, then the U19 team won the Asia Cup and now the Bangladesh national team came here for the Champions Trophy. We always show our support towards them by coming to the stadium," Parvez, who has been living in Abu Dhabi since 2007, told The Daily Star today.

Parvez insisted that his involvement in cricket doesn't only remain as a fan as he claimed that he also worked for the Bangla Tigers franchise in the Abu Dhabi T20 League and that he also keeps in touch with many cricketers and organisers.

"In 2003-2005, I was involved with Oriental Club of Dhaka's Lalbagh. In 2019, I worked with Bangla Tigers in Abu Dhabi T10 during their first participation."

Parvez, unsurprisingly, hoped for Bangladesh to win the contest -- a wish that seemed to have been left unfulfilled as the Tigers put up a torrid showing in today's game.