IN Pune, a section of the MCA Stadium ran out of water forcing fans into an altercation with police who were torn between wanting to help them and wanting to enforce discipline. It was a scene straight out of the Hunger Games: Indian cricket edition (2024).
In Bengaluru, just outside one of the gates of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, fans, some of whom had begun queuing the previous night for an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter, were greeted by a shuttered booth as the promise of physical ticket sales evaporated. Irate fans began demanding questions. Some cops resorted to lathi (2023).
In Chennai, fans were packed into a narrow queue like sardines next to the M Chidambaram Stadium on the eve of the second Covid Test between India and England. Physical distancing went for a toss as fans, feeling the effects of an already harsh early sun, were left to fend for themselves at a time when digital India was the flavour of the month (2021).
Two years later, scores of fans were looking forward to a holiday in Dharamsala with Test against Australia acting as the backdrop. Then, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) pulled the rug by moving that match to Indore with less than three weeks to go for the event. Some lawyers who were affected by it were joking about a class action suit but they all shrugged, quietly cancelled their tickets and walked away (2023).
In the same year, officials didn't release the schedule of the 50-over World Cup till the 11th hour. Once then released it, they changed the dates (2023). All of this happened since the beginning of 2021.
In many sports across continents, the match-going fans are sport's ultimate stakeholders. Yet, this is the lived reality of the hundreds of thousands who watch cricket in Indian stadia all through the year.
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Sometimes, just sometimes, Akshay Singh (name changed) wishes he wasn't that keen on following the game. He was so involved in cricket his twitter handle was named after a cricket terminology. But every time he wants to watch a game from the Stadium, he considers it 'punishment' because of what and all he has to go through, right from the disorderly queues, the bizarre rules around 'not being able to come back in once you leave' and 'getting roasted in the Sun if you watch a day game (in Kolkata, Pune)'. "You sell an IPL game for over `15 cr but you are telling me you can't afford to build a roof for the fans?"
The Bengaluru sales head is fine with all of that because of 'my passion for the game'. What, though, really gets him is the fact that ticket info is so closely guarded, protected like family heirloom. "Nobody knows when it's going to be out and when it's put out, it gets sold out in 4-5 minutes," he says. He had been planning to watch the Afghanistan vs. New Zealand game in Chennai this weekend and was patiently waiting for tickets to open. "Once it opened, it disappeared in seconds. It's unreal that they opened sales of that match with less than one week to go for match. It's almost like the officials are telling us 'we don't want you here'." For the record, none of the tickets for the Super Eight matches have gone on sale yet. The first Super Eight match is scheduled to begin in the last week of February.
So why is he there? "The atmosphere in Chennai is pretty good, plus it will be a good day out watching two really good teams. The ticket prices are cheap (when compared to other World Cups elsewhere)."
Credit where it's due because the BCCI have ensured that this tournament is going to be inclusive to most fans at a time when the economy is facing headwinds. Most tickets are priced from as low as `300 for the games in Chennai which is a decent price point. It's one of the major wins the BCCI and the state associations over the last few years. For example, in Kolkata, you could have watched an entire day's play between India and South Africa for `60. For context, you would have had to pay close to `15000 for a day of Test in England to watch India. For that amount, you can see an entire season's worth of Test matches in India and still have change for expensive coffee.
Prices will escalate for the semifinals and final but that's understandable.
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Art Vandalay (name changed), Mumbai's North Stand Gang member, has been to all five World Cup stadia for a smattering of matches across formats and tournaments. The one thing he would love to totally change is the issue around ticket sales. "For the Paris Games in 2024, I bought my first ticket in February 2023," he says. "The way cricket does its ticket sales in India is very bizarre. It's why nobody from outside India can ever plan to visit India for ICC events."
Avantika is another who points out the same issue. "The ticket-booking experience is the biggest tussle for a fan in India," she says. "When they are released to platforms, the booking platforms do not market and sell it in a way that it can be easily accessible. We have a long way to go here."
For this World Cup, it looks like one positive change officials have made is the elimination of physical tickets for those who have purchased online tickets.
There is an another area where all five World Cup Stadia get brownie points from the fans this daily spoke to. Access. In Chennai, suburban train services as well as the metro are within a stone's throw away. There is a metro or a suburban train connecting all five stadia (tramlines in Kolkata's case) so that is a huge positive. Akshay stresses the point that the location of the Chidambaram Stadium is 'great'. The Wankhede stadium scores highly for both Avantika and Art.
One area where Ahmedabad doesn't do all that well is getting into the actual stadium. The stadium itself is huge but there aren't a lot of gates to enter the stadium so Art has struggled to enter. "I was pushed around very badly, I hope it's something they look into." Another area with a 'can do better' rating are the state of the toilets. Both Art and Akshay say 'lesser said the better' while Avantika has found it clean in places like Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
This is a complaint as old as time, though. In 2023, a woman went viral on twitter after posting about the 'absolutely disgusting toilets' in both Mumbai and Delhi. "Unclean," she posted. "Unimaginable filth, I had to explain to my then 8-year-old not to drink any more water until we exited the stadium."
Over the last two years or so, state associations have constantly worked on the aspect of cleanliness to bring it up to a certain standard. This World Cup will offer the five venues a chance to show they take these complaints seriously. Food and water remain a bone of contention. "Free drinking water is marketed but on matchdays, the reality can be different," says Art. "For an example, during the India - Pakistan game, I was outside next to a refill stadium from the 31st to the 35th over because they had run out of water. A refill had come eventually but I was actually pretty scared."
One area where Wankhede scores big is the 'unmatched atmosphere', according to both Avantika and Art. "Wankhede over any other stadium," Art says. "You get a consistent football crowd in a cricket stadium and that takes care of the atmosphere. Chennai is also a fairly good crowd, very vibrant."
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The cricket match may be the movie but fans are like music. Remove any and all background score from a movie and it very quickly loses its essence. Like poem without a purpose. The world saw it first hand when producers of live sport resorted to piped music during Covid to cover for the absence of fans. On TV, it sounded like the soul had been stripped out. AI noise.
The officials will do well to remember not take the fans for granted.