Where are the people?

Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra simply smashed the English bowlers and displayed their Bazball funda at Ahmedabad during the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

Both Conway and Ravindra were making their Cricket World Cup debuts and for the first time two New Zealand batsmen smashed hundreds in the same match on a World Cup and most astonishingly, this feat was achieved by two World Cup debutantes.

Their 273-run stand for the second wicket is the highest for New Zealand in ODIs breaking the record of partnership between Martin Guptill and Will Young.

The English batsmen were expected to go all guns blazing and despite, for the first time in the history of the One-day Internationals (ODI) all eleven batsmen reaching double figures in a match, England managed to post a total that was not challenging on a batting paradise at Ahmedabad.

Conway and Ravindra smoked from the word go against an English attack that has the reputation to defend totals in ODIs but turned pale and out of ideas against the blazing sword of New Zealand batsmen, who were without Kane Williamson.

But all these actions happened in front of an almost-empty Narendra Modi Stadium — a venue with a capacity of 1, 34,000 people.

These two teams logged horns in the opening match of Cricket World Cup 1996 at Ahmedabad and the attendance was large enough to feel the excitement of a mega-event, but today’s match gave the impression of one of those bilateral ODIs that hardly attracts the eyeballs.

Should this have happened in India?

Absolutely NOT!

Cricket’s new heartthrob — the Twenty20 League — especially the IPL, allows the local crowds to witness the best players in the world almost every year. The fans can easily meet them, take selfies, and have a pep talk, which was not possible once upon a time and for which the interest to witness the best international players always remained higher in the past.

If a local fan in Ahmedabad has enjoyed the full of Jos Butler, Ben Stokes or Conway several times, then, surely, he would turn out to watch the match for lack of excitement.

Reporters covering the tournament stated the marketing for the tournament in Ahmedabad had been poorer — not even closer to the Reliance Cup 1987 held in India and Pakistan.

While walking in the streets of Ahmedabad, nobody witnessed any modernized branding of the tournament whereas, in the IPL, the streets became a center of cricket festival — the owner of the particular Franchise clubs had a hand in this carnival atmosphere, but being the most powerful and richest Cricket Board — BCCI could have done better than the Franchise Leagues in terms of marketing.

Then, the venues and dates for the fixtures have been changed time and again confusing the locals and making it impossible for them — let alone travelling fans — to plan ahead.

Only 41 days before the opening match did Cricket World Cup tickets go on sale. Even then, these have often been hard to access, with reports of websites crashing.

Whenever there are empty seats, ticket prices are raised as an explanation. They are a valid reason for the unwelcome sight in Ahmedabad — and, with poor sales apparent from days out, the hierarchy of BCCI could have gone with better innovation.

Again, a gorgeous opening ceremony was a must-needed to attract the fans in the stadium would have helped a lot. An opening ceremony two hours before the start of the match was certainly not an impossible task for BCCI and when Sachin Tendulkar entered the stadium with the trophy with almost zero buzz, it seemed that cricket itself was insulted big time.

Most importantly, these days, the passion for cricket among the Indian fans is not as vibrant as in the past but it exists for the Indian matches only — if this is true then it is not expected from such a passionate cricket nation whose contribution to cricket is immense.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar