we all love to give the Indians and their fans shit because in a lot of cases they deserve it…
but that’s f**king OUTSTANDING…
They managed to near sell out the MCG vs the Zimbots… and it’s not their home country…
Would Australia even get half that vs the Zimbots?
I highly doubt we would even sell out the 45K at Eden Park vs the Zimbots let alone in a foreign country…
I just find that astounding…
I agree, say what you want about their team or fans, 82.5k is outstanding for a match between two countries at a neutral venue.
If the ICC wanted to maximise attendances and play all of India's group games at the MCG, India vs South Africa would've definitely got 80k+ (got nearly 87k at the MCG during the 50-over 2015 World Cup), and the matches vs Netherlands and Bangladesh would've also been well attended.
There's no doubt that Indian fans have saved the day for the ICC, as crowds at most of the other matches during this T20 World Cup have been very disappointing. With the exception of the opening day at Geelong, there's been more atmosphere at funerals I've attended than the matches held this World Cup at Geelong and Hobart, and the matches played in front of tens of thousands of empty seats at Perth Stadium (excluding India vs South Africa) looked and sounded horrible on tv. The apathy among the Aussie supporters was clearly shown when they couldn't even crack 20k for their final group game at Adelaide Oval:
Like the crowd watch thread in the NRL forums, I thought I'd post one for attendances so far during the 2022 T20 World Cup. I will update the stats as time goes on: FIRST ROUND: 16,407 (Namibia vs Sri Lanka, Netherlands vs UAE @ Geelong) 2,135 (Scotland vs West Indies, Zimbabwe vs Ireland...
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The only other internationals played at a neutral venue that have obtained higher crowds (that I'm aware of) than last night (besides the 1992 World Cup Final and the India vs Pakistan match this tournament) are the 1987 World Cup Final and the 1993 Hero Cup Semi-Final (Sri Lanka vs West Indies): both at a sold-out Eden Gardens (back when it could hold 90-110k)
Given the attendances of matches involving Australia this tournament, no way that Australia vs Zimbabwe would've got half of 82.5k at the MCG. Wouldn't have got more than 20-25k max (and that's being generous), even in the so-called "sporting capital of Australia", as Shane Warne used to always crap on about during commentary.
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