The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 has kicked off with great anticipation, but the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad paints a starkly different picture. Despite the excitement surrounding the World Cup, the opening match featuring England and New Zealand witnessed a conspicuous absence of crowd in the country’s largest cricket stadium.
The 2019 World Cup finalists taking the center stage should have been a spectacle to behold, but the ICC and BCCI are grappling with the challenge of filling the vast seating capacity of 1.3 lakhs in Ahmedabad.
This predicament has left both the ICC and BCCI disheartened. Amidst a cloud of uncertainty regarding ticket sales, the stadium remains eerily empty, with numerous seats unoccupied even on match day.
In a surprising turn of events, the official ticket partner, BookMyShow, was seen attempting to sell tickets for the game on the day of the match itself.
The sight of empty stands in a tournament of this magnitude is indeed a cause for concern, raising questions about the factors contributing to the lackluster turnout and the implications for the cricketing world.
Meanwhile, former Indian cricket team opener Virender Sehwag has reacted to the same. Even the former Indian explosive was astonished to see such an empty stadium. However, he also hoped that as the day progresses and when the office hours close, the stadium will be more full. He also suggested that, for the World Cup 2023 matches, except India’s games, the BCCI and ICC should distribute free tickets to school and college students with the ODI format slowly losing its value.
Hopefully after office hours, there should be more people coming in. But for games not featuring Bharat, there should be free tickets for school and college children. With the fading interest in 50 over game, it will definitely help that youngsters get to experience a World Cup…
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 5, 2023
Talking about the match, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bowl first. As of writing this, England cricket team is really struggling having scored only 181 runs and lost 4 wickets already.
