Key Points

With India’s bowlers set to take centre stage on Sunday, a larger crowd is expected, adding to the growing energy around what could be a decisive day in the match, as the hosts’ aim for a 2-0 series sweep over the visitors’ from the Caribbean.

It was at this venue earlier this year that more than 17,000 fans braved the harsh cold weather to watch Virat Kohli make his return to the Ranji Trophy in Delhi’s clash against Railways, with extra gates and additional security deployed to manage the huge number of spectators at the venue.

But in the city’s cricketing pulse, there was lack of buzz around the Test match against the West Indies due to the absence of marquee match-ups, especially from the opposition side and absence of local lad Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, who stepped away from Tests.

It also didn’t help that there was no local boy in the Indian playing eleven – wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, another Delhi lad, currently recovering from a fractured right foot at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru and seam-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana not being a part of the series (though is named for the tour of Australia).

Despite the build-up to this fixture being quiet from a fans’ perspective, the crowd turnout in New Delhi has made for a good look. On day one, 11,000 spectators were in attendance, as they were treated to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s century and B Sai Sudharsan’s 87. On day two, 15,700 fans witnessed Jaiswal eventually making 175, and skipper Shubman Gill hitting an unbeaten 129 - his tenth Test century, as a dominant India declared at 518/5.

A DDCA official told IANS on Saturday said that there are multiple factors behind the good turnout for the ongoing game, something which the governing body had been anticipating. “With ticket prices lowered after the GST adjustment and day two falling on a second Saturday, which is a holiday for a lot of working professionals, its made for a good turnout of 15,700 fans today.”

“Not to forget, it’s also India’s first Test in New Delhi after nearly two and a half years, which means there was a huge interest and anticipation in people to watch Test match action live. Now we are anticipating a bigger turnout for Sunday, as it’s a holiday for everyone and fans will be very keen to watch India’s bowlers in action,” further said the DDCA official.

On day two’s proceedings, the lower stands have been nearly full, with the middle stands also having decent capacity. The crowd has also been vocal in their cheering – chants of ‘Kohli, Kohli’ on both days were quickly converted to ‘Jaiswal, Jaiswal’ and ‘Gill, Gill’.

Whenever KL Rahul or Mohammed Siraj went to the practice nets, fans would collect near the edge of their stands to have their glimpse in close. When Bumrah came out to bowl, ‘Boom, boom Bumrah’ chants swarmed the venue. Once Mohammed Siraj came in to bowl, ‘DSP, DSP’ chants were on the lips of all fans.

Concerns over spectator turnout for the game in New Delhi had been looming, especially after swathes of empty seats were visible in the first Test at the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

But those fears have been swiftly laid to rest as fans turned up in encouraging numbers at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, thus bringing a lively energy to the stands. A commanding Indian victory would only serve to reward the capital’s passionate and faithful cricket fans, and add the perfect cherry on the cake of their weekend outing.

- IANS