The announcement of demolition of 500 and 1000 notes by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken the nation by a storm as it has effected the day to day life of every common man in the country.
However, the shock decision has had its effect on the ongoing test match between India and England at Rajkot as the match has seen very low attendance so far in the first three days. The timing of the announcement is the worst part for the Test as Rajkot is making its debut as a Test match venue.
The government has announced that both 500 and 1000 notes would not be in circulation post midnight on the 8th of November and the Test had begun on November 9.
The prestigious match for the SCA has seen largely empty seats as match tickets were largely transacted using 500 and 1000 notes in India and with demonetisation of these notes, people has tried to keep the lower notes for their daily activities.
“The demonetisation has had a big impact on the attendance,” SCA secretary Niranjan Shah told Reuters. “The window sale of tickets has been hampered as people have been trying to hold on to their 100 rupee notes.
“The announcement came on the eve of the start of the match and there was nothing we could do to avoid it.”
The ground which has a capacity of over 28000 has seen a mere 8000 spectators per day with the bulk of them being the school children. However, secretary Niranjan Shah has explained that the vicinity of the stadium is not the reasons for low turn out as the SCA stadium is away from the main city of Rajkot.
“I would not say the distance of the stadium from the city is a reason for the poor attendance,” said the 72 year-old. “The stadium gets full for the Twenty20 matches which are played in the evening.
“I am hoping the attendance will pick up for the weekends. We have started tickets for the weekend for just 100 rupees so hopefully we will have better crowd.”