• India surpasses its own best at star-spangled show

The most attended limited-over cricket matches ever

Attendance	Match	Venue	Year
100,000*	India vs. South Africa (1)	Calcutta	1993
100,000*	India vs. West Indies (2)	Calcutta	1993
100,000*	India vs. Sri Lanka**	Calcutta	1996
100,000*	India vs. Australia (3)	Calcutta	2003
90,000*	India vs. Pakistan (4)	Calcutta	1987
90,000*	India vs. South Africa (5)	Calcutta	1991
87,812	England vs. Pakistan***	Melbourne	19992
86,122	Australia vs. West Indies (6)	Melbourne	1984

Notes:

1. * = Actual number of crowd attended could have extended the here-mentioned official number of spectators
2. Kolkata was known as Calcutta until 2001. It is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal
3. (1) = C.A.B. Jubilee or Hero Cup five-nation Tournament first semi-final, under lights, at Eden gardens, Calcutta
4. (2) = C.A.B. Jubilee or Hero Cup five-nation Tournament final, under lights, at Eden gardens, Calcutta
5. ** = 1996 World Cup second semi-finals, under lights, at Eden gardens, Calcutta
6. (3) = TVS Cup tri-series final under lights, at Eden gardens, Calcutta
7. (4) = 2nd of the six-match bilateral One-Day International (ODI) series at Eden gardens
8. (5) = 1st of the three-match bilateral One-Day International (ODI) series at Eden gardens
9. *** = 1992 World Cup final, under lights, at Melbourne Cricket Grounds, Melbourne
10. (6) = Benson & Hedges tri-series third final at Melbourne Cricket Grounds, Melbourne

The 15th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) reached its business end yesterday (29) with the Gujarat Titans (GT) vs. Rajasthan Royals (RR) final. Before the grand finale, the organisers of the tournament, the Board of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had organised a 45-minute closing ceremony with Oscar-winning music composer and singer A.R. Rahman celebrating India’s 75 years of independence. The ceremony began at 6.30 p.m. yesterday and the toss was held at 7.30 p.m., before the 8 p.m. start of the grand finale. From Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials including its President Shammi Silva had attended the event on invitation by the BCCI. The team RR had its Head Coach in the calibre of Sri Lanka’s former Captain Kumar Sangakkara and as its fast bowling coach, Sri Lanka’s former “slinger” Lasith Malinga.  Rahman began his performance with emotional Vande Maataram, originally a poem written in Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the 1870s, which was later popularised by 1997 studio album by Rahman.  The highest-ever turnout for a match  The closing ceremony and the final match were staged at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the largest sports stadium in the world, with a seating capacity of 132,000 spectators. The match had attracted the largest number of crowds to a limited-over cricket match in the history of the game of cricket, Indian media confirmed yesterday (see table). The India vs. South Africa game in 1993 at Eden Garden was considered to be the most attended limited-over game ever. The BCCI hadn’t officially released the ticket sales figures or official attendance figure by the time this edition went to press last night. But, according to estimates revealed by reports in India, spectators figures in the stadium can cross 110,000 fans. It is worth noting that 85,000 fans had been present in the stadium during the RR vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday (27) in the Qualifier-2 of the IPL this time. Named after Narendra Modi The Narendra Modi Stadium, formerly Motera Cricket Stadium, is a cricket stadium situated inside the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave in Ahmedabad, the most populous city in the Indian State of Gujarat, situated on the western coastline of the country. The stadium is owned by the Gujarat Cricket Association. The stadium was constructed in 1983 and was first renovated in 2006. It became the regular venue for international matches in the city. In 2015, the stadium was closed and demolished before being completely rebuilt by February 2020, with an estimated cost of $ 100 million (Rs. 35.4 billion on present value), to be rechristened in the recent Indo Prime Minister’s name. Event organisers’ views Popular Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh was also set to perform at the grand event with folk dancers from different states also being present. Inside Sport in India had caught up with the organiser of the event, Chanda Singh, Director of TCM Platform – the company which designed the IPL 2022 closing ceremony. “It is going to be a mega closing ceremony not because it is happening after many years but also because it is the 15 years of IPL. It is a milestone in itself. Also, we will be celebrating 75 years of independence through Mr. Rahman’s concert. So, we were very excited when we got the contract from the BCCI,” Singh had said before the ceremony began yesterday. In AR broadcast for first time A.R. Rahman was to be dedicating the concert to celebrate India’s cricket through seven decades and Ranveer Singh will be performing at the closing ceremony. Folk dancers from different states of India were performing at the event including famous Chhau dancers from Jharkhand. Former captains of Team India have also been invited and will be felicitated during the ceremony. With over one lakh people expected to be present during the ceremony, the event was broadcast in augmented reality (AR) for the first time ever. AR is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual and auditory. In all, over 700 people will be performing at the event. CAPTION:  By 6.30 p.m. yesterday (29), Ranveer Singh’s performance began at the IPL 2022 closing ceremony which depicted graphically the Indo dominance in world cricket as well as, perhaps, world culture, economy, and politics as well