Just days before the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 kicks off, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) came under fire online for filthy seats at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad — the venue of high-voltage clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan.
The mega event is taking place in India with warm-up matches being held ahead of the main round which starts on October 5 in Ahmedabad.
The finalists of the 2019 edition England and New Zealand will be playing in the tournament opener followed by Pakistan facing the Netherlands the following day.
Currently, the Men in Green are playing against Australia in the warm-up game. The fans have been allowed to watch the game but the arrangements have not been up to the mark for the spectators.
C. Venkatesh, a user on X (formerly Twitter) shared a picture of untidy seats.
Since many believe it is an edited pic, however, he later shared a video of the seats.
India's senior sports journalist Vikrant Gupta also reacted to the photos going viral and said "Shocking. To say the least."
Netizens have come hard on the BCCI and India, the host of the competition, for not meeting the standards as the fans would be coming in large numbers for the competition. They opined it is a shame on the BCCI for not clearing the seats.
Fans have further asked if BCCI President Roger Binny and Honorary Secretary Jay Shah would sit on seats like these.
It must be noted that the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium is set to host only three matches in World Cup 2023. Pakistan and Netherlands will play two games in this venue while other teams like Sri Lanka and New Zealand will play only one game here. This will be the only venue in the tournament, where India won't be playing any match.
Pakistan vs Netherlands on October 6
New Zealand vs Netherlands on October 9
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka on October 12
Earlier, Australian batters showed no mercy to Pakistani pacers in their innings as they posted a colossal total of 351 runs in 50 overs.
Glenn Maxwell played a fine knock, scoring 77 off 71 with ten boundaries that went all over the ground, he was followed by Josh Inglis who helped the Aussies accelerate their innings in the last 10 overs and scored 48 off 30 with a handsome 160 strike rate. Pakistan are currently chasing the total.
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