The lack of spectators continued to haunt the Champions Trophy 2025 as the match between India and Bangladesh in Dubai saw a huge number of empty stands on Thursday. There was a lot of criticism following the lack of fans during the tournament opener between Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi but things did not improve in the second game as well.
The commentators were left surprised by the lack of supporters in the ground for the match and social media was filled with pictures of empty stands with only a few sections completely full. Lalit Modi, the first chairman of Indian Premier League, took to social media to express his views and questioned whether it is time to scrap the One-Day Cricket format.
Watching the @ICC champions trophy cricket match between #india and #bangladesh. Stands are empty That would not happen at an #ipl game. Is the one day format becoming irrelevant to the fans ? What’s your view ? Should one day cricket be scrapped and more test cricket ? #भारत…
— Lalit Kumar Modi (@LalitKModi) February 20, 2025
Coming to the match, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and opted to bat against India in their Champions Trophy opener on Thursday.
India have made two changes from their previous ODI against England earlier this month, bringing in Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja in place of Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy.
Bangladesh have fielded three seamers and two spinners and have opted for Tanzim Hasan ahead of much-talked about Nahid Rana in the pace department.
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav.
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman.
Also Read: Champions Trophy: What India Can Expect From Dubai Pitches?
