Half-empty stands for England-New Zealand World Cup opener

Dawid Malan would have felt so lonely walking the 80-odd steps up to the dressing room as the first batter to be dismissed in the 2023 World Cup. He would have felt the empty stadium vibes for a big-match day when play started in sweltering October heat on Thursday. The Narendra Modi Stadium can hold 1,30,000 spectators.

As the match began, people started trickling in. By the time the England innings was over, more than 47,000 people were watching, a record for an opening ODI World Cup game but made possible only after a large push of freebies to bring the crowds in.

At Ahmedabad, plenty of free tickets were offered – some for cancer-stricken kids. Women spectators were also here as part of a mobilisation drive.

The spectators were scattered across the tiers as well. “A ground this big looks empty. It is not. And no one had anyway anticipated that a match not featuring the home team will have more than one lakh people coming in on the first day,” a local association official said.

The Indian team though are expected to ensure packed stadiums, and perhaps that would have been the case if they had opened the tournament.

An International Cricket Council official though said having England and New Zealand to begin the tournament was to try and build from the memorable 2019 final at Lord’s. “It’s easy to say India should have gone in first. But putting a schedule together is quite complex,” the source said. “One starts with the date of the final and works back from there. The priority obviously is to have India play on week-ends as much as possible to draw viewership.”

Had the tournament opener been staged in a smaller stadium at another venue, perhaps the opening match may have been better received. But the missing buzz for non-India cricket is not a new occurrence.

Filling stadiums for league matches may remain challenging as ODIs are no longer as popular. In few of the India-Australia matches in the bilateral ODI series just played, fans avoided the heat and stands became full only in the second half of the match under lights.

The 2019 World Cup had good crowds throughout as UK is home to a cross-section of Asian population, other than the home team. The crowds in India are more partisan.

That said, Australian fans didn’t show much enthusiasm even for the home team’s games at the 2022 T20 World Cup as matches were too early in the cricket season. In India, big cricket is an all-weather proposition. The 2029 Champions Trophy and 2031 ODI World Cup are to be hosted by India.