Two weeks in and, on the pitch, the Cricket World Cup in India is effervescent away properly.
Shock outcomes this week – first England crushed by Afghanistan earlier than the Netherlands’ very good win over South Africa – have breathed life into the event.
However the crowds, or lack of them, at matches continues to be some extent of debate.
BBC Sport seems to be on the points concerned…
What have the crowds been like?
India matches apart, there have been swathes of empty seats at matches involving impartial groups.
The event started with England’s defeat by New Zealand, performed on the huge Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Organisers stated 45,000 tickets had been bought for that match, which might make it the very best attended opener in World Cup historical past. However there have been greater than 80,000 empty seats within the 132,000-capacity venue.
Since then there have been some good crowds – England v Afghanistan in Delhi one apparent instance between impartial groups – blended in with underwhelming attendances in a rustic famed for its love of cricket.
Official figures have been tough to acquire from organisers.
The World Cup is an Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) occasion however is run at a day-to-day degree by the hosts, on this case the Board of Management for Cricket in India (BCCI).
There was no quantity given, regardless of repeated requests, for the attendance at Saturday’s assembly between India and Pakistan in Ahmedabad, for what many anticipated to be a report crowd for a cricket match.
Greater than 95% of tickets had been bought for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. Early indicators recommend that won’t be matched in India, though English cricket stadiums are a lot smaller than these in India.
The 45,000 at that first match would have crammed Lord’s and left one other 14,000 stood outdoors.
What have the issues been?
There have been widespread reviews on social media of followers scuffling with the web platform used to promote and distribute tickets, with matches or sections of the bottom proven as bought out, solely to be largely empty.
There was confusion when hundreds of tickets had been launched on the day of India’s match towards Australia in Chennai – a fixture beforehand believed to have already been bought out.
BBC Sport has spoken to England followers on flights to matches who haven’t acquired their tickets, whereas others have been advised theirs needed to be collected from solely totally different cities from the place the match was being performed.
This all comes after the schedule for the event was not finalised till August – tickets went on sale much less then six weeks earlier than it started, making it tough for followers to plan journey from abroad or different elements of India.
Visas have been an issue too.
Followers have been largely unable to journey from Pakistan due to the political state of affairs between the 2 nations, with Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur a critic of the partisan nature of the gang for his or her match towards India.
What else is at play?
Many have prompt the low crowds are proof of the sluggish loss of life of the 50-over format.
India actually has little hassle filling stadia for the Indian Premier League – probably the most profitable of the T20 franchise leagues.
These matches largely occur within the evenings, after locals end work, whereas most World Cup matches have began at 14:00 native time, though crowds have grown within the late afternoon when temperatures are additionally cooler.
Crowds at India matches suggests the Indian public loves Indian cricket. Whether or not that extends to impartial matches is much less sure.
The multi-cultural nature of the UK’s inhabitants actually helps relating to attendances at non-England video games in 2019.
It also needs to be stated that final yr’s T20 World Cup in Australia had some sturdy crowds – 90,000 watched India v Pakistan in Melbourne – but additionally many poorly attended video games.
That is the third males’s World Cup in as a few years throughout codecs, with one other T20 version to observe in seven months after the 2023 occasion ends.
But when world champions England, with IPL stars like Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, face South Africa, who will embrace the likes of Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada, in Mumbai on Saturday, it would fear organisers if the 33,000-capacity Wankhede Stadium is filled with empty seats.
