The much-awaited ODI Cricket World Cup got underway today (October 5) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The finalists of the 2019 World Cup, England and New Zealand, locked horns in the opening game. The two teams were involved in the thriller in that final with even super over ending in a tie.
For the same reason, there was a lot of excitement around this match. But strangely, the fans didn’t turn up at all to witness the opening game of the spectacle event in the ODI format. The pictures of the empty stands at the stadium have gone viral on social media leading to many questioning the schedule with neutral teams starting the World Cup.
The crowd increased as the match progressed but the capacity of the Narendra Modi Stadium is a massive 1,32,000 and that highlighted the empty stands even more. Notably, tickets were sold out for most of the matches and it was really glaring to see fans not turning up for the opening encounter of the mega event.
Joe Root‘s half-century leads England to 282
Meanwhile, England have posted 282 runs for the loss of nine wickets in their 50 overs after being invited to bat first. Joe Root was the top batter for them scoring 77 runs but no other batsman could cross the 50-run mark despite most of them getting starts. New Zealand bowled extremely well with three spinners – Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra, and Glenn Phillips – picking up five wickets between them.
However, Matt Henry was the pick of the bowlers returning with the figures of 3/48 in his 10 overs while Trent Boult was also economical in his spell. Having said that, empty stands at the stadium hogged all the limelight as the fans raised a lot of questions.
Here are some of the reactions: