ICC Cricket World Cup opens to empty stands: Bad organisation, lack of opening ceremony blamed
This is the first time in World Cup history the tournament was not declared open by a head of state followed by a lavish opening ceremony.
The ICC Cricket World Cup was originally considered one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year, but improper handling of ticketing, insufficient organisation and a strange lack of pomp has left the opening match almost empty of fans and spectators.
Despite a stadium capacity for 120,000 spectators, the first match of the tournament between England and New Zealand shocked viewers around the world with a mostly empty stadium.
The England-New Zealand match was considered a high voltage affair given both the form and the rivalry the two shared.
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But only a few hundred fans from both teams could be seen at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Cricket fans around the world took to social media to express their unhappiness with the situation.
But this was expected by many.
The start of the World Cup has been marred with bad organisation.
The first batch of ticket sales began on 25 August, less than six weeks before the opening match, leaving little to no time for overseas fans to make plans to attend.
One such fan, Vipul Yadev, could only describe the ticketing process as "nonsensical".
He elaborated further saying, "Nowhere in the world do you have to struggle so much for a ticket. All this happened because the ticket release was done too late."
Another reason could be India's participation.
It has been 27 years since a host nation has not participated in the opening match, and some have pointed to that as a reason for the empty stadium.
In a strange twist of fate, the last time this situation occurred was also during a World Cup hosted by India, with the same teams in the same venue.
Another black mark on the festivities was the lack of it thereof.
For the first time in World Cup history, the tournament was not declared open by a head of state followed by a lavish opening ceremony.
It was instead announced at a captains' news conference a day earlier.
Many fans have drawn comparisons to the last tournament on the subcontinent, hosted by Bangladesh in 2011.
The opening in 2011 was accompanied by performances from the region's biggest music stars and met rave reviews at the time.
But this wasn't the case this time around.
As India deals with its own set of problems, the cricket-mad nation's failure to light up the world stage with the crown jewel of cricket is proving to be yet another sore point.
