World Cup 2023: ‘Empty Stands, No World Cup Buzz, Fans Disappointed’ (image-twitter/icc)
The much-awaited and most anticipated ICC World Cup 2023 opening match was played amidst thousands of empty seats in Ahmedabad. In a country known for its love for cricket, only about 4000 fans turned up to watch the inaugural match at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
Social media is flooded with the images of the empty stadium. Fans expressed their disappointment and lashed out at BCCI and ICC. Most of them pointed out that, though the stadium was completely empty on Thursday, the online ticketing platforms showed ‘sold out’.
The defending champions locked horns with New Zealand on Thursday, it was meant to be a thrilling replay of the 2019 edition finals. Narendra Modi Stadium has the capacity of 1,32,000, making it the largest cricket stadium of the world. But unfortunately, only 3% of the stadium was filled for the occasion.
England women’s cricketer Danni Wyatt wrote on X, “where is the crowd?”. While Jemimah Rodrigues, Indian cricketer responded by saying that the crowd is waiting for the India- Pakistan match scheduled to be held on October 14.
Waiting for the India v Pakistan game 😁 https://t.co/RBNOR2JDtt
— Jemimah Rodrigues (@JemiRodrigues) October 5, 2023
“Look at all those empty seats. It looks awful on TV. Host should always open the WC. Finalists can play the following day,” one person wrote on X.
During the match, former Indian Captain Ravi Shastri pointed out that it might be the absence of India in the opening match might have led to the absence of local fans. Indeed, it is the first time in 27 years that the opening match of the tournament has not involved the host nation.
The tournament began without an inaugural ceremony, this came as a further disappointment to the cricket fans. The delay in sale of tickets for the World Cup had already sparked criticism from fans as ICC took longer than usual to finalize the dates of the game. But the tickets for the match on October 14 in which India meets their archnemesis Pakistan has been sold out within minutes. The same stadium will witness the grand final of the tournament.
On Friday, Pakistan will face Netherlands in the city of Hyderabad. Pakistan was given a rapturous welcome by the locals when they landed in Indian last week.
