The Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun will be hosting the first international cricket match on June 3 when Bangladesh meets Afghanistan in their first encounter of the three-match T20 series.
Going by the sale of tickets, there is not much enthusiasm among the cricket lovers for the series.
The stadium, situated in Raipur area on the city outskirts, has a capacity to accommodate 25,000 spectators, but only about 6,000 tickets were sold till Saturday evening for the first match of the series, to be held on Sunday, an official privy to the organising committee of the series from Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) told Hindustan Times.
However, the organisers were hopeful that the ticket sale would increase in the coming days. “One may not get deceived by the deserted look at stadium’s ticket counter, as many of the cricket enthusiasts are booking their tickets online, which is evident from the fact that almost 90% of the tickets are sold online. However, we hope that maximum number of cricket lovers would come to enjoy the match on Sunday,” said the official, on the condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak to media.
Some of the foreign media persons, who have come to report the Sunday’s match, were also skeptical about the crowd response. “We are a little doubtful that the people of Dehradun would throng the stadium to see Bangladesh and Afghanistan clash on Sunday, as we couldn’t see people at the ticket counters. Also, we think that as the stadium is far away from the main city, people are not willing to come despite the fact that it is the first international match in their city,” said Ikram Hussain, a journalist representing Somoy News TV of Bangladesh.
{{/usCountry}}Some of the foreign media persons, who have come to report the Sunday’s match, were also skeptical about the crowd response. “We are a little doubtful that the people of Dehradun would throng the stadium to see Bangladesh and Afghanistan clash on Sunday, as we couldn’t see people at the ticket counters. Also, we think that as the stadium is far away from the main city, people are not willing to come despite the fact that it is the first international match in their city,” said Ikram Hussain, a journalist representing Somoy News TV of Bangladesh.
{{/usCountry}}Commenting on the crowd response for the Sunday match, a city resident and cricket enthusiast Vaibhav Nautiyal, 22, said, “It is not surprising that there is a lukewarm response for the match, as both the teams are foreign teams. If it would have been our national team, then the stadium would have been packed.”