Hyderabad: Watching cricket matches in India is a nightmare for fans as the stadiums lack adequate facilities and the stands are jam-packed and uncomfortable.
Their troubles start from the time of procuring the tickets and continue even after the match is over as they have to negotiate through heavy traffic late in the night to reach home.
But most of the time, the fans once they manage to get into the stadium, enjoy their time and also make it a memorable experience for the players by making a lot of noise, cheering for their teams, and also appreciating good efforts by the opponent team and sporting gestures.
The series-deciding 3rd T20I of the 2022 Series between India and Australia at Hyderabad is a case in point as the fans troubles started at the time of buying tickets when they caused a stampede at the Gymkhana Grounds in the city on Thursday in which seven persons were injured.
Only a handful of fans got tickets, which were earlier sold online and were said to be sold out in 20 minutes. The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), under pressure from various quarters as the clamour for tickets grew into a gigantic crescendo, made a few thousand tickets available offline.
They mishandled things as thousands of fans gathered hoping to purchase tickets for the first international match in the City since 2019. A stampede ensued and the police had to resort to lathi-charge to control the mob. Seven persons were injured in the incident.
The incidents on Thursday had raised concerns over Sunday’s match and the police had made stringent security arrangements for Sunday’s match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here.
But the match went off without any major incident as fans had a gala time, despite the hassles they faced due to the heightened security.
When the first ball was bowled, there were 32,459 people inside the stadium and as the Australian innings progressed, the numbers swelled to 45,004 towards the midway.
At the start of the Indian innings around 9.30 pm, the organisers announced that there were 45,354 fans inside the stadium, filling it to the rafters.
Overall, the crowd was well behaved and enjoyed the match without any incidents, cheering the interesting game of cricket.
