* Lukewarm ticket sales for the first ODI

between India and New Zealand At first glance, this is a very important series. For both India and New Zealand, these five ODIs represent the final batch of limited-over matches in the subcontinent before the region hosts the World Cup in February. And yet, on Saturday, a day before the series opener, the local papers bemoaned the lukewarm ticket sales.

At noon, when the visiting team arrived armed with plastic cones and baseball mitts for practice, the public announcement system was still urging the city's residents to queue up at the ticket counters. Guwahati's unwillingness to pack the Nehru Stadium is probably down to the absence of some of India's biggest stars -Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, M.S. Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan - all rested ahead of the South Africa tour.

Published Date : Sunday, Nov 28, 04:00PM IST