CHENNAI: “DOES that mean you are coming back next year as well,” asked broadcaster Danny Morrison, indicating to the loud cheers from the stands of the MA Chidambaram stadium, as he spoke to Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni. The 43-year-old, in his typically witty manner, replied, “I don’t know. I am coming for the next game.”

It led to a comical moment at the toss, but as the camera panned, the one thing that was hard to miss was the number of empty seats in the stands. Now, it was a Wednesday, and on most weekday IPL games the crowd takes time to come in and fill the stands. On such occasions, how the stands look about an hour into the game gives a fair idea on what the attendance is going to be. And Chepauk, which can hold about 35,000 fans, has consistently seen an official attendance close to 30,000 or more. The SRH game saw about 32,770 fans fill the ground while on Wednesday, as many as 32,063 fans (according to official figures) had shown up till about 8.30PM.

That being said, in the lead up to the game between CSK and Punjab Kings, one thing seemed clear. The ticket demand for the Chennai home games was not what it was a couple of weeks ago or how it was at the start of the season. In fact, till late on Tuesday night, the side’s official ticket partner showed that the tickets were still available. Even hours before the game, several WhatsApp groups were flooded with messages of tickets being available at face value.

This lack of demand is a very un-Chennai like. In the past, the general frustration among fans has usually been about how hard it is to get a ticket. More often than not, they used to be sold out in the first hour upon release. It hasn’t been the case this year and that has largely come down to the poor season the five-time champions have had so far. With just two wins in nine games, CSK are all but out of the tournament and that has reflected in the demand.