Seeing an empty seat in the stadium is quite a rare phenomenon in this cricket-obsessed country when Team India takes the field.
Long queues, jam-packed stadiums and fans shouting at the top of their voices are some of the prominent features of any cricket match in India. However, there were slight apprehensions that these scenes would not be witnessed during the upcoming series against Australia due to the implementation of GST.
The ticket price of the matches has increased by a significant margin due to the introduction of GST and an entertainment tax of 25 percent. As a result, the cheapest ticket is priced at Rs 1,200 for the upcoming games. But then again cricket is nothing less than a religion in this country, and it has been proved once again, as the tickets priced at Rs 1,200, Rs 2,400 and Rs 4,800 were sold out by Sunday evening (September 10) for the first ODI scheduled to be played on September 17 in Chennai.
The fans from Chennai, nevertheless, will be desperate to see the stars in action after missing out on Indian Premier League for the last two years due to the suspension imposed on Chennai Super Kings.
Australian Team Arrives in India:
After drawing the Test series in Bangladesh, Steve Smith & Co. landed in Chennai in two separate batches. The first batch included Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Travis Head, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson, James Faulkner and Nathan Coulter-Nile while the second batch had seven players — Steven Smith, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar, Matthew Wade, Pat Cummins and Hilton Cartwright.
Before the ODI series, the reigning world champions will play a warm-up game against Board President’s XI on Tuesday (September 12).
Schedule for the ODI series:
First ODI – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, September 17
Second ODI – Eden Gardens, Kolkata, September 21
Third ODI – Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore, September 24
Fourth ODI – M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, September 28
Fifth ODI – Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur, October 1
India squad (first three ODIs):
Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.
Australia squad:
Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.