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Cricket World Cup in 'sad' realisation after Aiden Markram record

The Cricket World Cup has started, but hasn't exactly excited fans.

riley morgan
Sports Reporter
·4-min read
Aiden Markram celebrates at the Cricket World Cup and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli bat.
Cricket fans have taken to social media to blast the state of the pitches and outfield at the World Cup in India with the host nation set to face off with Australia in Chennai. (Getty Images)

Cricket fans have taken to social media to blast the state of the pitches and outfield at the World Cup with India and Australia set to face off in Chennai after some bizarre results. South Africa posted a Cricket World Cup record total on Saturday night blasting 428 off 50 overs with the loss of just five wickets.

Aiden Markram shattered the record of the fastest ever World Cup century in just 49 balls with Quinton de Kock also scoring a century. South Africa's total surpassed the previous record, which they held, of 417.

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In remarkable scenes, Sri Lanka still posted 326 in what would be a phenomenal total in most One Day Internationals. In the tournament's opening match, New Zealand chased down England's total of 282 in the 27th over.

Despite a low scoring match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the outfield was poor with Mujeeb Ur Rahman getting his knee stuck in the ground, which saw dirt fly up into the air.

Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka spoke about the par score and claimed he even thought 370 was chaseable. “From a team like South Africa, we expected 350 anyway in these conditions. If we’d managed to keep them to 370 it’s manageable,” Shanaka said.

“We had the momentum especially the way that Mendis and Asalanka played. But their total was a little too much for us.” And fans have already taken aim at the spectacle.

Many called out the unfair competition between bat and ball so far at this World Cup. With superstars such as David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Steve Smith set to face off in Chennai and across India, records could further tumble this World Cup.

Crowd numbers stun at Cricket World Cup

The other drama at this year's World Cup is the apparent lack of fans filling up stadiums. When the first ball was bowled on Thursday afternoon in the opening match between England and New Zealand, there were tens of thousands of empty seats around the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium. Many pointed out that the stadium wouldn't even have been at 10 per cent capacity - an embarrassing look for the ICC and BCCI (Indian Cricket Board).

Aiden Markram celebrates.
South Africa's Aiden Markram (pictured) scored the fastest century in World Cup history. (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Many highlighted the fact that fans were probably unwilling to sit in the 34C heat all day, with not much shade covering the crowd. The stadium did fill up as the match went on and the temperature dropped, but it still wasn't a good look considering the sea of empty orange seats that could be seen around the ground.

In the match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, many fans pointed out similar issues to start the match.

However, this will likely change when India kick-off their World Cup campaign against Australia in Chennai. The host's will be under immense pressure to win the World Cup on home soil as Pat Cummins and his men look to cause an upset.

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