Sold Out, No One In

England 477 all out
v India 60-0
close on Day 2

Saturday 17 December 2016

Played at Chennai

Twitter @ball_sup

30 Indian Beer Ticks

It's time I dealt with the Sold Out, No One In phenomenon. I'm English, not Indian, so I have no real idea how it works. But, Chennai is a classic of its genre. First off. One side of the ground. Housing three big triple decker stands. Lower tier. A/C boxes. Upper tier. Is closed. Completely. Don't take any bollocks “because of the cyclone”. Some Mad Indian licensing, certification, health & safety, finance bollocks. Is what it is.

I mean. Rewind that. One Test of a five match series. Is allocated to a stadium which can't open vast swathes. Mad.

And, one half of the older, Pavilion Stand has no seats in it.

I can't swear. But, I'm going to say the rest of the ground has been pre-sold as 5 Day Season Tickets. Some may be as “cheap” as 4 quid in total, for all 5 Days. Mine cost £37. For a padded chair in an Air Conditioned Box. I got that the day before play. And was told that was all that was left. Certainly other punters in my hotel went later on that same day & were told the game had sold out.

And, no one seems to have been able to buy a ticket on Days 1 & 2. But, many ticket buyers either can't or won't rock up every day & watch every ball.

Reasons.

They've got to work.
They've got family commitments.
That would be Mad, who has got the attention span for five days.
Kohli will not bat every day.

I'll condemn them. The vast majority of Indians have no intention of watching all the cricket, all of the time. They've pushed the money at a 5 Day Season because that's their only way of dipping in & out as they can/as it pleases them.

In this climate, the spectators are natural born shade chasers. Again, this makes some sections, towards the back, away from the cameras, packed. And the sun bleached front seats - empty.

I have no solution. But it's a nightmare. English tourists can't get in. Yet the ground never seems anywhere near a tenth full.

Hello. Adil batted more to his potential today. 477. That's a big score. That score puts you in the game. All in, a nice hundred from Moeen. But, he's been well suckered into the short ball trap. It was inevitable he'd find Jadeja in the end.

Dawson & Adil did what they had to do. Part of a wagging tail. But, little to worry the Indian openers.

Kohli day tomorrow. The ground may approach one quarter full at some point.

The Beer

Another tasteless SNJ effort. Called 20000. Labelled as Super Strong Beer.

418/858