The much-anticipated ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 got underway on Thursday (October 5) with the England versus New Zealand clash.

Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium is hosting the tournament opener. However, the mammoth 132,000-capacity stadium is grabbing the headlines for wrong reasons on the very first day itself.

The opening encounter saw very low crowd attendance in the largest cricket stadium in the world. Amid the outrage, a couple of posts went viral on social media, highlighting the dirty seats at the venue.

After the ongoing England-New Zealand fixture, as many as five matches of the World Cup will be held in Ahmedabad, including the marquee India versus Pakistan clash on October 14.

Earlier this week, Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium came under the scanner for its terrible condition.

The quadrennial event, featuring 10 teams, will be played in India across 10 venues. Besides Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, there are eight other venues that will stage the World Cup games and they are – Delhi, Dharamsala, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai.

Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium will host the first semi-final on November 15 while the second semi-final will take place at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on November 16. Both semi-finals have a reserve day.

The grand finale will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on November 19, with November 20 being the reserve day.