Cricket World Cup 2023: For non-India Games, there should be free tickets, says Virender Sehwag after empty seats for lung opener

The Narendra Modi Stadium of the Gujarat Cricket Association is the largest stadium in the world. It has hosted Test matches, the Indian Premier League final and the three-match ODI series against West Indies.

Ahmedabad (Gujarat): Amid the ongoingEngland versus New Zealand game at Narendra Modi Stadium here, former India opener Virender Sehwag on Thursday suggested that the organisers can provide free tickets to school and college children.

This comes after there were many empty seats seen in the 1.32 lakh capacity Stadium during the ongoing England versus New Zealand game, the first game of the Cricket World Cup 2023. The official attendance figures were not revealed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The former India cricketer took to X (previously known as Twitter) and said "Hopefully after office hours, there should be more people coming in. But for games not featuring Bharat, there should be free tickets for school and college children. With the fading interest in 50 over game, it will definitely help that youngsters get to experience a World Cup game and players get to play in front of a full stadium. #CWC23 (sic)".

The lung opener saw the presence of barely 10,000 people at the start. By the time, the sun stopped beating down hard, it increased to around 15 to 17,000.

Contrary to usual scenes at almost all venues when India plays, or even when IPL matches are held, there were hardly any large swathes of raucous fans waiting outside the Narendra Modi Stadium in the lead-up to the start of the tournament.

New Zealand bowlers dished out a disciplined show as they restricted England to 282/9 after stand-in skipper Tom Latham opted to field. The Kiwis are currently on 200/1, with unbeaten centurion Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra taking on a listless England attack.

The Narendra Modi Stadium of the Gujarat Cricket Association is the largest stadium in the world. It has hosted Test matches, the Indian Premier League final and the three-match ODI series against West Indies. The final of the ICC Cricket World Cup and the clash between India and arch-rivals Pakistan will be played at this stadium, which is near the Sabarmati River.