The ICC T20 World Cup window has clashed with the examination window in India, as a result of which the DDCA’s offer to different school students to come over to witness non-India games at the Arun Jaitley Stadium has been declined.
India are hosting the ICC T20 World Cup this time around, and several venues across the nation have been scheduled with matches. One of the various such venues includes the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, where five matches have been scheduled in this World Cup.
The iconic venue of the Arun Jaitley Stadium, formerly known as the Firoz Shah Kotla Stadium, has witnessed many such iconic games. The ground is known as one of the legendary tracks, which is often called one of the finest batting tracks in India.
India vs Namibia, ICC T20 World Cup match tickets have been sold out as expected
The Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi will be hosting many ICC T20 World Cup matches, which starts with the first game between the Netherlands and Namibia on Thursday, the 10th of February.
The second match has been scheduled to be played between India and Namibia, and all tickets for that game are sold as per expectations, with demand for complimentary passes exceeding expectations.
Matches at the Arun Jaitley Stadium is likely to be scheduled on Tuesday (Netherlands vs Namibia, Feb 10), Thursday (India vs Namibia, Feb 12), Friday (Feb 13, UAE vs Canada), Monday (Feb 16, Afghanistan vs UAE), and Wednesday (Feb 18, SA vs UAE).
DDCA’s offer to Delhi schools denied amid Exam season
The DDCA, on the other hand, has been bothered by the empty stadiums in the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The DDCA has hence contacted the schools across Delhi for the non-India matches so that children can watch the proceedings if they are in uniform.
“We contacted a lot of schools, but with CBSE as well as annual exams overlapping with the tournament, institutions are not ready to send their students to watch non-India games. Actually, there is no demand for tickets except for the India game.”
The CSBE exams will be held during the same time, and the exams starting next week have made the schools decline the offers from the DDCA to bring students to watch the non-India games.
“Unlike Wankhede Stadium, where Nepalese fans made up for 17,000 spectators, Kotla will be less than half-full save the India game,” a senior DDCA official, who has been overseeing the arrangement, told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
DDCA cites the central reason for empty stands in matches at the Arun Jaitley Stadium
The DDCA members claimed that the empty stands do not make for good TV viewership, and hence, they made the effort to bring in the school children.
“Empty stadium doesn’t make for good TV viewing, with vast expanses of the galleries being an eyesore. Therefore, bringing in school children is a good idea. But we have matches on Tuesday (Feb 10), Thursday (India, Feb 12), Friday (Feb 13, UAE vs Canada), Monday (Feb 16, Afghanistan vs UAE), and Wednesday (Feb 18, SA vs UAE).
“If you look, factoring out the India game, all matches are on a weekday. Also, the timing for non-India games are 11 am (3 games) and 3 pm (1 game). How do you expect young people to come? People don’t even want premium tickets for non-India games,” he jokingly added.
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