One of lowest-ever turnouts at Eden

In one of the lowest-ever crowd turnouts in the history of Eden Gardens, only about 33,000 people witnessed the opening day's play.

In one of the lowest-ever crowd turnouts in the history of Eden Gardens, only about 33,000 people witnessed the opening day's proceedings in the second cricket Test between India and Pakistan on Wednesday at the 93,000-capacity stadium.

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The scorching heat as also the ongoing school examinations were blamed for the low turn-out even as India, starting the match as favourites, won the toss and elected to bat.

Indications were apparent that the Test would see low turn-out after the November 13 BCCI platinum jubilee match between India and Pakistan and the India-South Africa Test at the Eden Gardens from November 28 to December 2 last year also drew lesser crowd.

High prices of tickets had been held by many to be the cause of low turnout at the recent international matches.

The Cricket Association of Bengal officials, though disappointed, were hoping for more crowd over the next four days of the Test match.