Kolkata: Continuing with the pattern of low turn-out at other four venues in the earlier matches, a modest crowd of just 25,000 turned up at the 65,000-capacity Eden Gardens in the fifth and final cricket one-dayer between India and England on Tuesday.
Eden Gardens, which had witnessed one-lakh plus crowd cheering Indian cricketers in the past, today wore a grim look with less than half of iconic stadium being filled up.
With open stands all around the stadium, including the premium Club House end, the usual Mexican Waves were missed as India innings began after being put into bat by England.
Having robbed of India`s World Cup fixture against the same side due to unpreparedness of the stadium, the Eden was hosting the national side almost after two years.
But that did not matter much as people stayed away with less than 25,000 spectators turning up. The
According to official figures from Cricket Association of Bengal, only 5,758 tickets were sold from the 24,000 that went for sale. The remaining tickets were distributed among the CAB members and affiliated units as there was a huge demand for the complimentary tickets.
This despite the fact that the ticket rates were nominal, in the denominations of Rs 500, 1000 and 1500.
The poor ticket sale was attributed to too much of India-England cricket and lack of interest because of a dead rubber as the home side had already taken a 4-0 lead.
A CAB official said, "There has been too much of India-England cricket. The interest would had been there if it was planned better. Moreover with the festive season at its peak -- the Durga Puja for Bengalis just over, while Kali Puja (Diwali) is tomorrow. So many have given this a miss."
The official said the one-off Twenty20 International on October 29 here would be a packed house.
"The response for the Twenty20 has been very good. We can expect at least 90 percent crowd," he said.
The earlier four ODIs had also seen modest crowd turning up at the stadia.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 18:50