Cricket World Cup fans were left feeling underwhelmed by the opening match between England and New Zealand – because the stadium looked empty.
Organised by the International Cricket Council, the 50-over tournament features 10 teams in a group stage and knockout format, with the 130,000 capacity Narendra Modi Stadium looking sparsely populated on Thursday morning.
The biggest cricket stadium in the world, which is also due to host the final, is thought to have hosted thousands of fans during England's early batting stage – but spread out around the huge Ahmedabad venue.
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Fans watching on Sky Sports couldn't help but notice the empty orange coloured seats behind the likes of Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow – with blame pointed at the organisers over their method of ticket sales.
Posting a snap of the stadium looking almost completely empty from above, one fan said: "Sorting the schedule and selling the tickets five minutes before the comp has worked out well."
A second added: "Empty stands in the Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmedabad to the #CWC2023 opener. What a disgrace!"
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A third agreed: "Not a great sight to see the world cup opener with empty seats in Ahmedabad. Had the administration released the tickets early then the seats would have been filled."
One local fan then pointed out: "The crowd is going to fill up gradually, it's India, entering into stadiums is cumbersome and slow with all the security checks."
A second added: "It will surely fill up as the day draws to a close, but compare and contrast with the Rugby World Cup opener 4 weeks ago…"
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A third posted: "What's worse than a scarcely populated stadium? A scarcely populated stadium which also has the highest capacity seating. This one's on the organisers."
The 132,000 capacity stadium has more parking lot space than Bournemouth and Luton can in their entire grounds.
Since the rebuild, which began place in 2015, the record attendance came with 101,000 people at the 2022 IPL Final. It also hosted Donald Trump during his time as president of the United States.
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