ICC Men’s World Cup 2023 has been going on under some criticism, specially the poor attendance of crowds at the stadiums.
There have been too few fans, too many injuries and lot of runs over the first five days of the Cricket World Cup 2023 when former England captains Michael Vaughan, Mike Atherton, India stars, BirendraSehwag, Rabi Shatsri have lashed out over the audience attendance.
All the stars spoke on the issues during the England vs New Zealand clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
There was a low crowd turn-out at 1,32000 capacity Norendramodi Stadium. The former stars commented through different media on the issues.
However, the opening five matches of the marathon seven-week tournament were played in eerily empty arenas.
Organisers optimistically estimated around 40,000 fans watched the opener between New Zealand and England at the 132,000-seater Ahmedabad Stadium, the world's largest cricket ground.
Posting on Sehwag said the India TV, “There should be free tickets for school and college children, it will definitely help that youngsters get to experience a World Cup game and players get to play in front of a full stadium.”
Former England captain Atherton had a point that the host nation should be playing the opening games as it brings the footfall.
“In the last few years, the hosts have started. England began against South Africa in 2019, England and Australia played the opener in 2015, and in 2011, India played Bangladesh. Isn't it sensible that the hosts should start because it guarantees a full house and give the tournament an immediate lift,” Atherton said when former India star Shastri also agreed.
The 2023 ODI World Cup started in India with the 2019 finalists England and New Zealand taking on each other in the first match in Ahmedabad on October 5. The 50-over World Cup returned to India for the first time since 2011 and India is hosting the tournament alone for the very first time. The tournament is expected to be a strong crowd-puller considering the sport's popularity in the nation.
But the stadiums not being filled to a satisfactory capacity in the matches rather than India team are on the ground. Notably, former cricketers are reverberating them and are also going hard for the lack of audience on the grounds.
Micheal Vaughan said, “Crowds are looking very poor at the World Cup … Surely we should be giving tickets away to make sure the stands are full," Vaughan wrote on (formerly Twitter). As seen in the recent non-India World Cup games, the footfall seems to be lower than expected.
Meanwhile, AFP (Sports), one of the world’s leading news agencies in the world highlighted three talking points of biggest showpiece of the world cricket.
It’s the sport’s showpiece event in a cricket crazy country with millions of diehard fans expected to be jostling for tickets.
However, the opening five matches of the marathon seven-week tournament were played in eerily empty arenas.
When South Africa were shattering records on Saturday against Sri Lanka, around 10,000 fans watched inside New Delhi’s ArunJaitley Stadium which can welcome around 40,000 people.
Pakistan fans desperate to watch their team in Hyderabad have been frustrated in delays to the granting of visas.
On Sunday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced they were releasing 14,000 tickets for the blockbuster October 14 clash between India and Pakistan in Ahmedabad.
The date of that match had already been brought forward a day due to security fears, causing eight other games to be rescheduled, sparking chaos for fans who had already booked flights and hotels.
The lack of fans will spark more questions over the long-term future of the World Cup in the face of competition from its brash cousin, the Twenty20 format.
Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram all made centuries for South Africa in their 102-run win against Sri Lanka.
It was the first time a team had boasted three centurions in the same innings.
Markram set a new record for the fastest World Cup century coming off 49 balls while South Africa's 428-5 was the highest ever total made in tournament history.
Sri Lankan bowlers MatheeshaPathirana (1-95) and KasunRajitha (1-90) conceded more than 180 runs between them from 20 overs.
Sri Lanka's reply of 326 all out made the game in New Delhi the highest-scoring World Cup match.
The first five days also saw 12 fifties made, including by ViratKohli (85) and KL Rahul (97 not out) after India slumped to 2-3 chasing 200 to defeat Australia on Sunday.
Besides the India match, very poor audience watched the thrilling innings and the highest scoring match in the Men’s ODI Cricket World Cup.