While the KKR vs SRH game did live up to the hype with some explosive batting in the first innings of the match, fans were left stunned to see that the iconic Eden Gardens was almost half empty.
The match, which started on time at 7:30 pm IST, saw empty seats welcome both captains for the toss on April 3, Thursday.
Fans took to social media to discuss the matter as the initial excitement was certainly missing in the contest as KKR was put into bat first in Kolkata. The fans in Kolkata are known to be one of the most passionate and loudest ones in Indian cricket and seeing empty stands was a shocking sight.
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While the excitement did build up towards the latter end of the first innings, the lack of fans got people on social media wondering what was the reason behind fans not being at the venue. One of the fans suggested that it may be due to the increased price rates for the matches at the stadium and it was a way of the supporters to show their protest.
Another fan wondered if it was down to the fact that match was missing a crowd-pulling Indian star.
Here’s a look at the rest of the reactions of the fans:
What happened in first innings of KKR vs SRH?
Maybe due to the lack of support early on, KKR’s start wasn’t ideal at all. They lost openers Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine cheaply. Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi would get a feel of the track and scored 81 runs during their partnership to set up a good base for the rest of the batters to launch.
Raghuvanshi scored a well-made 50 before he was dismissed by the before Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh stole the show with some explosive batting. Venkatesh scored 60 off 29 balls as KKR hit 66 runs in the final 4 overs to score 200 for 6 in their first innings.