Chennai: The opening Test between India and England, starting at Chennai on February 5, will be played in front of empty stands. But the second Test of the four-match series could see 50% spectator turnout at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk.
Sport in India has resumed in a phased manner, but without spectators being allowed entry to stadiums at events like the ISL
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and host association Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s optimism follows the Union government’s latest COVID-19 guidelines, which permit crowd attendance at 50% of capacity at sporting venues.
“There is no time to allow entry of spectators for the first Test starting on February 5 as we only received the government notification on Saturday. You can’t organise entry of spectators at such a short notice,” PTI quoted a TNCA official as saying. “But yes, now with fresh guidelines, there is every possibility that second Test (from February 14) might have spectators as per notification.”
The Chepauk stadium can seat 50,000 people, so there could be a crowd of around 25,000 to watch Virat Kohli’s men take on the Joe Root-led side.
The third and fourth Tests will be played at the refurbished Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, where the capacity has been enhanced to 1 lakh. So as many as 50,000 fans could be watching the last two games of the series.
