Asia Cup 2025: Empty seats spotted again during Pakistan-India Super Four clash

DUBAI: Hundreds of empty seats were spotted here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, hosting the blockbuster ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 Super Four match between fierce rivals Pakistan and India on Sunday.

As the blockbuster contest got underway at 6:30 PM local time, hundreds of seats and a few enclosures were still empty, which is a rare sight in the mouthwatering duel of the two Asian giants.

“Wheres the crowd?? Is everyone just BORED of India v Pakistan games now?” a cricket fan questioned on X, formerly Twitter.

Surprisingly, it was the second instance that empty seats were seen during the Pakistan-India cricket match, as the Dubai International Cricket Stadium was presenting a similar scene in their group-stage meeting.

Prior to the ongoing Asia Cup 2025, Pakistan and India’s last T20I meeting was in an uncharted territory – the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York – and it was still filled with cricket enthusiasts.

According to a report by an international news outlet last week, local fans blamed the scorching heat in the Gulf region for the unusually slow sale of the Pakistan-India tickets, which normally get sold out in hours if not minutes.

“September is one of the hottest months in this part of the world, with high temperatures and extreme humidity, making it difficult to be outdoors even in the evenings,” Shahid Khan, a Dubai resident, told the news outlet.

“While players may get paid to play in this weather, fans have to spend large amounts of money to purchase tickets. Why would they do that to suffer in the heat?”