It was touted as the most highly anticipated cricket event of the year, taking place in the largest stadium in the world dedicated to the sport, in a country renowned for its reverence for the game.
However, when the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 finally commenced in India on Thursday, only a few thousand seats were occupied in a stadium that had been renovated for the tournament to accommodate a minimum of 120,000 spectators.
As England and New Zealand faced off at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, which was renamed after the Indian prime minister in 2021, cricket enthusiasts took to social media to express their astonishment at the sight of rows of empty saffron-colored seats.
England women’s cricketer Danni Wyatt posed the question ”Where’s the crowd?” in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Jemimah Rodrigues, her Indian counterpart, responded by stating that the crowd is eagerly awaiting India’s match against Pakistan on Saturday, October 14.
Article from www.aljazeera.com rnrn