Empty seats at Sachin's show

Sounds unbelievable but it's true: only 70,005 spectators have watched India's remarkable progress through to the Super Six of the World Cup.

That's less than the official capacity of Eden Gardens!

Overall, as many as 19 per cent of the seats have gone unoccupied at stadiums where Sachin Tendulkar has been unleashing his breathtaking fireworks.

Not even the prospect of a tight contest against Australia, Pakistan and England could set the turnstiles swinging, figures released by the International Cricket Council show.

The SuperSport Park at the Centurion, which hosted India's champagne encounters against Australia and Pakistan, has a capacity of 21,156 seats. Shocking as it may seem, both matches were seen by a below-capacity crowd. There were 17,694 spectators for the Australia match, and 19,679 for the Pakistan match.

The India-England match at the Kingsmead in Durban, which has a capacity of 20,110 seats, was watched by 18,353 spectators.

Of the other matches, the lesser said, the better.

India's match against Holland at Paarl was watched by 3,674 spectators (capacity 9,014 seats); against Namibia at Pietermaritzburg by 4,805 (capacity 7,088 seats); and against Zimbabwe at Harare by 5,800 (capacity 7,329 seats).

In all, 70,005 people have watched India's six preliminary matches against a full capacity of 85,840. That's a full 19 per cent of seats going unoccupied.

Considering that so many of those on view at Indian matches have been Indians, the official figures only demonstrate a marked disinterest towards the game among the hosts for matches not featuring the home team.

However, it must be admitted that many of the seats have been bought whole-sale by corporates, many of whom skip and see matches as they please.

In spite of an appeal from the World Cup organisers, the corporates have refused to part with the tickets for matches they do not wish to watch.

Will the Super Six put more bums on seats? Watch this space.

South Africa's matches against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies all attracted full houses. The opening ceremony drew in more spectators than the stadium could accommodate.