SHIVAMOGGA: Poor turnout at the ongoing Ranji Trophy match between Karnataka and the Railways at the Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium at Navule in the last three days has disappointed the organisers.
Though the entry for the match is free, the reason for the low turnout, many say, is owing to the absence of star players, poor publicity, lack of commentary and fee to park vehicles. While the stadium can accommodate 10,000 people, only 250-300 people are turning up to watch the match each day. The match that began on December 22 will end on December 25 and the organisers are expecting a good turnout at least on the last day.
“We gave much publicity to the match. Still, fans have not turned up in good numbers. We are also disappointed,” KSCA Shivamogga zone convenor D R Nagaraj told TNIE.
KSCA Shivamogga zone chairman Sukumar Patel attributed the poor response to the absence of Team India star players like K L Rahul, Karun Nair and Mayank Agarwal. While Vinay Kumar was expected to play, he suffered a muscle cramp a day before the match and opted to rest.
“We could not put up posters in and around the city due to the ban on banners,” he said.However, a source in the Shivamogga City Corporation said that though there is a ban, there is no restriction on putting up banners at stipulated places after paying a fee.
The response, however, was not poor for previous Ranji matches held in Shivamogga. When Karnataka took on Uttar Pradesh at the JNNCE College Grounds from December 21-24 in 2011, the response was overwhelming. The crowd, however, was poor for the Ranji Trophy 2017 Group ‘A’ match betwee Karnataka and Hyderabad atthe new stadium.
A few fans present at the stadium said commentary there would have attracted more spectators.“We are clueless as to who is playing owing to lack of announcement during the match,” said Raveendra K N, a student.However, the organisers said that though they requested the higher-ups in the organisation in this regard, they refused to allow any commentary.