The internet damned the crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat for not cheering the Indian cricket team enough during the ICC World Cup finals between Indian and Australia.
Soon after it was clear that Australia was on their way to lifting their sixth World Cup trophy, the stadium, a sea of blue jerseys, went radio silent. Post the match, Australia captain Pat Cummins took a dig at the crowd saying, “There is nothing more satisfying than seeing such a huge crowd go silent.”
During the presentation ceremony, the stadium was almost vacant as most of the people left even before the match was over.
Netizens compared the crowd energy with the likes of Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai or the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and expressed disappointment at the Ahmedabad crowd’s silent response, calling it “disrespect” to the players.
One X user named Sameer Allana describes the situation as, “Energy of the Ahmedabad crowd in a single video”
Ace photographer Atul Kasbekar had a lot to write about the crowd. He sarcastically concluded his tweet by stating to chose the venue “wisely”.
“Last word… The Ahmedabad crowd was rubbish… Need proper fans inside a stadium instead of fly by night pretenders… Like the amazing people at Wankhede… Proper fans… Cheered the team on and especially Shami post the dropped catch… Chanted his name non-stop… Boosted him and the team… Energised them… Lifted them when the Kiwis were looking ominous… Shami got 7 eventually… Last time out in Mumbai for a WC final, we won Choose ur venues wisely,” he wrote on X.
Another X user named Deshpande compared the energy of the crowd with Wankhede stadium. He wrote, “Wankhede crowd would’ve at least cheered morale of the team. Kya ghatiya crowd hai Ahmedabad ka. Aise shaant baithe hai jaise Dentist ka appointment hai.”
Another user named Gautham Menon had the same to talk and compared with a Chennai or Kolkatta crowd. “I thought I was imagining it, but the commentators on Star Sports seem to agree on the general silence of the Ahmedabad crowd when an Australian player played a good shot. A Chennai or Kolkata crowd would have behaved differently, and in the true spirit of the game,” he wrote on X.
Baibhav Mishra, an X user, wrote, “Was part of the Ahmedabad crowd with a set of people from Mumbai. Even they were disappointed with the crowd. Each time they started a chant or anything, nobody followed up. Everyone, busy in their iphone clicking selfies and gulping pepsis.”
Another X user named Parth MN wrote about the irresponsible behaviour of the crowd for not waiting till the presentation ceremony. “The Ahmedabad crowd not staying for the ceremony was abominable and still it was far from the worst thing they’ve done in this world cup,” the user said.
Another X user named Joy termed the conduct of the crowd as ‘graceless’. He wrote, “Cant blame the Ahmedabad crowd for their graceless conduct. Most of them had come to Chant Modi Modi or maybe even religious slogans. Being graceful, applauding fantastic performance of opponents and giving them due respect in true sporting spirit was not something they knew.”
