New Delhi: Team India’s season-opening Test match recieved a cold response as empty seats at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad caught attention on the first two days of the first Test. India are playing their first series at home in the new World Test Championship (cycle), facing the West Indies in the two-match series.
The Shubman Gill-led side opened their WTC 2025-27 campaign with a commendable 2-2 draw in England two months ago. The highly entertaining Anderson-Tendulkar trophy witnessed huge crowd turnouts across all five matches, but that hasn’t been the case at the start of the opening match of India’s home season.
Facing a low-key opposition like the West Indies might be a big factor in the low turnout, but the biggest reason for the lack of interest, perhaps, is the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
For the first time in 14 years and 10 months, neither Rohit nor Kohli is in the playing XI of the Indian team in a home Test. The last time this happened was in 2010 in the India vs New Zealand Test in Nagpur.
While Kohli played his maiden Test in 2011, Rohit Sharma made his Test debut three years later in 2013. Since Kohli’s debut, there has not been a single instance where none of them were present in the Indian playing XI. However, with both superstar batters quitting the red-ball format in May 2025, it seems the fans have found a reason not to attend the matches.
The empty seats on the first two days of the Ahmedabad Test raise the question of a superstar culture and how fans flock to the stadium when their favourite stars play and show little interest when they don’t. Kohli, during his playing days, made an argument for hosting the matches on Test venues that can attract crowds on weekdays.
Fans on social media also expressed their disappointment with the low turnout.
If we had to play a lower tier team, we should have ideally played them in a stadium that people want to watch Test Cricket.
Virat’s suggestion of having fixed test venues should be looked at.
Ahmedabad is the country’s biggest stadium, and to host a lower tier team at such a… pic.twitter.com/Xv9IDizvaM
— Kartik Kannan (@kartik_kannan) October 2, 2025
Then people question why WTC Finals are played only in England.
Imagine SA vs AUS Test match in Ahmedabad. Not even 5% of tickets would have been sold 💀 pic.twitter.com/MEyrfJzelI— Dinda Academy (@academy_dinda) October 2, 2025
Such a shame , this is not a Ranji match going on, it is an International match between India and west indies.
We seriously need to fixed 5 stadium for Test matches. Virat Kohli was right when he said we need a proper stadium for test matches.pic.twitter.com/vJllKypraq— Mohali to Melbourne 82* (@MelbourneNT82) October 2, 2025
Then people question why WTC Finals are played only in England.
Imagine SA vs AUS Test match in Ahmedabad. Not even 5% of tickets would have been sold 💀 pic.twitter.com/MEyrfJzelI— Dinda Academy (@academy_dinda) October 2, 2025
India in complete control
The low turnout has had no impact on India’s performance. The home side has dominated West Indies right from the very first ball of the Test and took complete control of the match on Day 2. Opening KL Rahul scored his 11th century and first at home in nine years as India reached 218 for three at lunch, 56 runs ahead of the visitors. India lost the wicket of skipper Shubman Gill (50) during the opening session.
On Day 1, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah bagged four and three wickets respectively as India bowled West Indies out for 162 in 44.1 overs.