The National Sport of India is Cricket. This is undisputed and the country loves it’s cricket so much that in the last couple of decades India has become a real powerhouse for the sport – not just in the quality of it’s players and teams, but economically and financially it has literally become the center of the cricket world. This year India is hosting the One Day International Cricket World Cup, which is the 3rd most watched sporting event in the world behind only the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics…
Which is why I was absolutely stunned to see the world cup opener the other day between England and New Zealand (Finalists of the last World Cup) kick off with an almost empty stadium. The cricket stadiums in India are massive and over the years I’ve become accustomed to watching India's cricket matches with overflowing crowds and international players have often commented that the crowds in India can be so loud that they can’t even hear each other on the field. So what’s up with the World Cup crowds so far?
It wasn’t just the opener either. Yesterday I had a look at Afghanistan vs Bangladesh and South Africa vs Sri Lanka...both of those matches had near empty stadiums too. I’m shocked and really disappointed. There is a big story here and I’m not sure what it is. Mainstream reporters are suggesting it’s an administrative bungle and the tickets went on sale late. Allegedly there have been tickets made free for people to try and fill up those stadiums, but this is a massive missed opportunity for the international powerhouse of cricket.
The last two World Cups were hosted by England (2019) and Australia (2015) and despite having much smaller cricket grounds, the crowds were most definitely bigger. I know that a lot of people like to watch cricket from the comfort of their own home these days but if a host nation can’t turn out some crowds then do they really deserve to host? At the risk of upsetting any Indian fans reading my blog (yes, there is 1 or 2) I have to ask that question. India and Australia play their opening match tonight and I’ll be expecting it to be packed to the rafters. Hopefully this disturbing trend of empty stadiums can be corrected to save the host nation from embarrassment.