AHMEDABAD: When the United States of America took on the Netherlands at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Friday, it was the first evening game at the venue. Close to 19000 fans had already filled up the stands, bringing Chepauk to life.
It had been a theme throughout this ongoing men’s T20 World Cup. Chennai, yet to host an India game, on average, has seen close to 20,000 fans turn up across five games till Wednesday. The highest of the first four was 24991 when New Zealand played Afghanistan on a Sunday morning.
On Friday evening, for an all-associate contest, fans had turned up in numbers, cheering for the Netherlands and the USA. One of them was Arjun, an engineering college student from Chennai, who came with a placard that read, “Winner gets New York. Oranje Boven!!!,” referring to the historical connection between New York and the Netherlands.
Arjun, an avid follower of the sport and associate teams, had also hoped to run into Daniel Beswick, a cricket journalist who writes on associate teams and is also part of the ICC Digital team. “We've been following him on social media for a long time, and we were aware of who he was. A few friends of mine and I have been following his blog for a long time, and we follow him on Twitter (X.com). Twitter has been excellent for me to follow associate cricket,” Arjun tells this daily.
There were other fans in the stands who were regular followers of The Emerging Cricket Podcast, asking for Beswick and Tim Cutler, CEO of Vanuatu Cricket Association and co-founder of the podcast. Chants of USA, USA and for the Netherlands emerged as the American nation went on to beat the Dutch by 93 runs. “I was very, very pleasantly surprised to see the Netherlands chants in the crowd. I think the USA stands were coming from the KMK stand and some of the lower stands. I was in C lower. But there was a very significant Netherlands-Netherlands chant which was picking up. I think it was some students who sort of kicked it off. Yeah, it was overall very nice to listen to,” Arjun recalls.
Not just on Friday, fans have turned up consistently to cheer for the non-India games in Chennai, reiterating the deep-rooted history and fandom the city has with the sport. And it is not just Chennai. Other main cricketing centres in the country have also seen a similar trend. Mumbai, which has hosted five games till Monday, including an India game, on average, have seen close to 20000 fans coming in. Apart from the fact that Mumbai always shows up for cricket, the fact that Nepal played all their games at the venue meant the travelling fans had turned up in thousands to cheer for their team.
In Kolkata, the average turnout at Eden Gardens has been close to 21000, with the England versus Scotland game seeing the biggest crowd so far at the venue. The Arun Jaitley Stadium, which hosted India versus Namibia, has seen close to 13,500 fans on average so far. Weekday matches between associate teams may have had lower turnout, but a 15,583-strong crowd showed up for the South Africa-UAE game on Wednesday. Ahmedabad, which had hosted only three games till Monday, has seen an average turnout of 29,300 with close to 55,000 fans filling up one of the biggest venues in the world for South Africa versus New Zealand. It was eclipsed when India played the Netherlands at the venue on Wednesday, with more than 65,000 filling the stands.
Put it all together, more than 5 Lakh fans come in to watch the 24 matches held across five venues in India till Wednesday. This, when taken into context that the schedule was announced in late November, reiterates cricket's following in India, especially in the main cricketing centres with a rich history. It is something former India captain Virat Kohli had spoken about as well. Back in 2019, during a Test series against South Africa, Kohli said that Test cricket in India should be played across five venues.
"We've been discussing this for a long time now, and in my opinion, we should have five Test centres. I agree (with) state associations and rotation and giving games and all that, that is fine for T20 and one-day cricket, but Test cricket, teams coming to India should know, 'we're going to play at these five centres, these are the pitches we're going to expect, these are the kind of people that will come to watch, crowds',” Kohli had said back in 2019.
Arjun, meanwhile, reasons that the crowd turning up for non-India games, especially in Chennai, is due to pricing and availability of tickets. For non-India matches across venues, the ticket prices have started as low as ₹100-250, unlike during the IPL or India international matches.
“People just love their cricket, and they want a chance to see good cricket. As far as the crowd in Chepauk is concerned, with IPL and even the Super 8s game (India match), not a lot of people will be able to go for it, myself included. Chepauk is always loved, but I found that the crowd that came over here was much more knowledgeable and open compared to IPL games. It was brilliant,” he said.
While it will be interesting to see how the crowd show up for the remaining matches — especially with all Super 8s slots finalised — so far, the main cricketing centres in India have shown cricket has such a massive following. And it will continue to remain the same for a long time.