The ENG vs NZ first match of the World Cup 2023 got underway on Thursday at the gigantic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. However, fans were shocked to see about 90 percent of the stadium being empty.
It was an unbelievable sight to behold for the fans on social media as most of the stadium was empty and only the colors of the seats could be seen.
Despite this being the opening match of the tournament in the biggest cricket following country, a huge number of empty seats in a game where two high-quality sides, which had contested last edition’s final, were playing, a vast amount of the stadium being seen empty clearly didn’t indicate well for the ODI format.
One fan said that such scenes simply epitomized the fiasco with the ticketing system that the BCCI and the ICC had organized. With the tickets being so delayed, fans from countries like ENG vs NZ just took it as a too much of a hassle for them and they couldn’t plan properly. Not to forget, England’s Barmy Army, too, couldn’t get their fans here in Ahmedabad.
This of course, and inevitably, led to a spate of memes and funny reactions among fans on Twitter.
Memes on the Narendra Modi Stadium being empty for the ENG vs NZ match:
Tom Latham won the toss and elected to field first. Joe Root finished as England’s top-scorer in their innings with 77 runs in 86 balls.
ENG vs NZ Teams:
England (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w/c), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, James Neesham, Matt Henry, Trent Boult
Glenn Phillips, who took two wickets, including that of Joe Root, said “Brilliant, obviously they got off to a flyer, but our spinners and seamers in the middle overs brought us back in the game, restricting them to 280 was pleasing. When Stokes was rested, one left-hander was taken out, but Latham used his other options well. They played really well, the wicket is going to get better in the second innings. They bat so deep, keeping them to a total of under 300, it was a great effort.”
