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Pujara blazes Blue into strength
GREATER NOIDA: With a steady stream of school buses parked at the entrance of the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex on Saturday, there were hopes of a reasonably
GREATER NOIDA: With a steady stream of school buses parked at the entrance of the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex on Saturday, there were hopes of a reasonably packed house for the opening day of the Duleep Trophy final between Yuvraj Singh’s India Red and Gautam Gambhr-led India Blue.
However, barring the hapless kids, who watched the game in the sweltering afternoon heat under the protection of a modest canopy, major parts of the grass banks were vacant.
Despite the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) introducing pink-ball cricket to draw crowds, the experiment, at least in terms of bringing fans to the ground, seems to have fallen short of its objective. A total of 11 Test players — six for India Blue and five for India Red — are playing.
“Day 3 of the first match was the most productive. We had a footfall of 15,000 that day as it was public holiday for Janmashtami,” a ground official told HT.
While there was decent attendance during the tournament opener, the second match, which was a virtual washout, didn’t attract much crowd. The third match, played between India Blue and Suresh Raina’s India Green, also failed to bring people to the ground.
However, India Blue wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik called the crowd “decent” compared to Ranji standards. “I remember playing a Duleep Trophy match a few years back in Hyderabad. Sachin, Kumble, Dravid, the who’s who of Indian cricket were playing, and the stadiums were not jampacked.
