ICC World Cup: Lacklustre turnout for opening clash

Hoardings with players in exaggerated poses? Crowds with eager eyes for any bus that resembles team transport? Obnoxious music out of crackling stereo systems? Enthusiastic shopkeepers with fast hands at cash counters? Long queues to enter the behemoth called the Narendra Modi stadium?

Nothing. Not a single element, least of all spectacle, on the long drive to the stadium from Ahmedabad’s heart, suggested that the 50-over cricket World Cup was going to kick off on Thursday afternoon. 

Then again why would a city come together to watch England and New Zealand play? What's in it for them? Put up with security and sun for the love of cricket? That's asking for too much. 

Should India have opened the tournament, however, it would have been a very different scene, that would have been a spectacle. See, that is what begets the confusion. Why was the schedule designed without India as the opening act?

At least had there been an opening ceremony, it may have aided - maybe even in just offering a pithy illusion - that 2019 finalists were setting the ball rolling for what is going to be an intense few weeks. 

But the organisers had decided against it, owing to a ‘logistical nightmare’, aka miscalculation of how much time they had to prepare for the opening day. 

Also, this game was always only going to rope in so many people this early in the tournament in India, and at a venue so large, even a crowd of 30,000-odd ends up looking much smaller than it actually is. 

Should this game, however, have happened at any of the traditional centres such as Bengaluru, Mumbai or Chennai, that same number would have burgeoned the stands, or given you that illusion at least.  

Here, it was all lost. 

Instead, it was Sachin Tendulkar, the official global ambassador for the World Cup, walking out to meek cheers from the few who realised who it was with the trophy in hand.

Then, a group of kids with large flags ran onto the ground in hastily choreographed strides before unfurling that of England’s, of this World Cup logo, and then of New Zealand’s. 

It was followed by a tepid firework show (a few sprinklers lined the red carpet for the players to walk out on), and then the anthems droned on to the satisfaction of a few travelling fans while the confused locals stood in support. 

As an equally uninspiring game took centrestage, the crowds built up a tad, spiking to a still-unimpressive - relatively - number by the time the game hit the second innings. 

Lest we forget, the organisers had doled out 40,000 complimentary tickets for women for this game and were giving them away on a complimentary basis to more and more people as the day unfolded. 

This was despite their announcement that all tickets were sold out for the game over 15 days ago! 

Emblematically enough, this is how disorganised this entire event has been so far. 

From an absurdly late announcement of the schedule to the rejigging of the same with only weeks to go for the start. From barely-existent marketing strategies to a peculiar opening game. 

For a country which has hosted the World Cup for the fourth time, the first time as a standalone nation as opposed to co-hosting, it’s unimaginable that they would get so much wrong. 

It’s still early days and there’s reason to be sanguine. But the fact that they let the ball slip on giving an event of this magnitude a deserving start will not go unnoticed. Right so. 

Least of all the fact that Rohit Sharma and Co didn't draw the curtains open for a show in their backyard.