Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani called the empty stadium of Thursday's World Cup match in Ahmedabad a 'fiasco' and slammed BCCI for its alleged lack of transparency in the ticketing process. Based on reports that claimed that 40,000 tickets were offered free of cost to women 'by the BJP to celebrate the passage of the women's reservation bill', Mevani said the sales of the tickets were over by the first week of September and the bill was passed after that. "Then, from where did these extra tickets come for women?" the Congress MLA tweeted.
"It shows that there is a nexus that operates which has kept the cricket fans in the dark for long... even after free tickets and snack coupons, women did not turn up for the match. They were even misled that it's India-Pakistan match to fill the stadium. But women did not turn up. Here is a thing for BCCI, let cricket be a gentleman's game as it is called. Chuck out the politics or one day you will see cricket in peril," Mevani wrote.
Half-empty seats at the Ahmedabad stadium on the first day of ICC World Cup 2023, in which England and New Zealand clashed, grabbed headlines. Around 47,000 people watched the match on the ground which was a record for an opening ODI World Cup game but the stadium looked empty as it can hold 1,30,000 spectators. An official told that the ground looked empty because it was huge and since India was not playing, 47,000 people were not expected on the first day.
{{/usCountry}}Half-empty seats at the Ahmedabad stadium on the first day of ICC World Cup 2023, in which England and New Zealand clashed, grabbed headlines. Around 47,000 people watched the match on the ground which was a record for an opening ODI World Cup game but the stadium looked empty as it can hold 1,30,000 spectators. An official told that the ground looked empty because it was huge and since India was not playing, 47,000 people were not expected on the first day.
{{/usCountry}}An unverified video is doing the rounds in which some women claimed they came to watch the match as BJP people gave them free tickets. They said they were told it was an India-Pakistan match.