The first T20 tournament post the stoppage of cricketing action has been started in the form of Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020. The opening day (August 18) of the exciting tournament saw two matches.
In the first game, the three-time champions Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) faced Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW). Similarly, in the following game, the Barbados Tridents (BT) met St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
In the first match, all-rounder Sunil Narine turned out to be the chief architect of Knight Riders’ 4-wicket victory. In the other contest, the spin duo of Rashid Khan and Mitchell Santner joined hands to contribute both with the ball and the willow to defeat Patriots by 6 runs.
Besides all the action on the field, one thing which grabbed maximum eyeballs was a few stands in the stadium. In those stands, the organisers had put up cut-outs of the audience cheering for the teams. Not only this, but the CPL management also decided to use ‘fake crowd noise’ in order to keep the broadcast on the television look more realistic.
The Party continues in the stands as everyone is ready for game 2 of CPL 2020!#CPL20 #CricketPlayedLouder #BTvSKNP pic.twitter.com/r3qWYWf8sF
— CPL T20 (@CPL) August 18, 2020
Without any surprises, the new concept received numerous responses on social media. Some fans felt that it was a bad idea, but some were of the opinion that putting ‘fake crowd noise’ and cut-outs will inevitably impact the viewership in a positive way.
Here is how netizens reacted:
Looks funny that fake crowds…but #CPL doing that to make the usual environment… appreciate it…#CPL2020
— Rizwaaan (@iamrizwan013) August 19, 2020
Lool CPL have fake crowd and crowd sound 😂
— Shoaib Niazi (@ShoaibNiaziUN) August 18, 2020
Aye the fake crowd and fake noise at CPL got me weak😭
— Yonnick🇬🇾 (@yonnick_20) August 18, 2020
Didn't need to put fake ppl in the stands nah.
Has enough of them running around normal normal #CPL— Redman without a cause (@arbitraryreddo) August 18, 2020
Fake audience in CPL matches .It hurts us to see a match without crowd 😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/aWfQxvjgiT
— @Gowtham.L (@Gowthamcricfan) August 19, 2020
fake noise at cpl appalling
— Steptoe (@Steptoesyard) August 18, 2020
Loving the enthusiasm of the fake crowd😂 @CPL @TKRiders
— am🐝 (@ammbbii) August 18, 2020
https://twitter.com/justinzayn15/status/1295883190503116801
https://twitter.com/annissaisamazin/status/1295802080309977090
I think we can all agree that the vuvuzela is incredibly annoying at sporting events. So you can imagine my surprise when I discover that the broadcast partners of the CPL have decided to implement fake vuvuzela noise in the absence of crowd. Ear poison #CPL2020
— Darren Murphy 🏏 (@MrDMurphy) August 18, 2020