The Cricket World Cup opener is supposed to be a proper event. 

Factor in that it is being played in the cricket-mad nation of India, at the second biggest stadium in the world, and it is a rematch of the famous 2019 final, and Thursday's game should have been one of the sporting moments of the year.

Instead, New Zealand got its revenge over England with a nine-wicket victory in front of a small crowd in the cavernous Narendra Modi Stadium.

No official crowd figures were readily available.

The stadium in Ahmedabad can look empty with even tens of thousands of fans in attendance due to its mammoth 130,000-seat capacity, but even taking that into account, the crowd for the opening match of the hastily organised tournament was disappointing.

India cricket star Jemimah Rodrigues suggested on X, formerly known as Twitter, that maybe fans were waiting for the hotly anticipated India-Pakistan clash at the same venue on Saturday, October 14.

That match between subcontinental rivals will surely draw a mammoth crowd but India's 50-over World Cup has been criticised for how late everything came together.

A fixture for the tournament was not released until June 27, just 100 days before the first game, and tickets went on sale in late August, barely a month before the England-New Zealand match.

Even many dedicated fans spoke about being unable to organise to go to games with such a short timeframe.

England's famed Barmy Army did not have a presence as the men's team started the World Cup defence.

There was also no opening ceremony to generate interest, with even the presence of Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar delivering the trophy not enough to attract fans to the Gujarat city.

The greatest run scorer in international cricket history walked out and waved to a paltry handful of fans and the teams lined up for their anthems to similarly barren stands.

While people did filter in gradually as the match wore on, the stadium was never close to half full and the teams shook hands in front of mostly empty seats.

India's first match is against Australia in Chennai on Sunday.