Deccan Chargers lose thousands of fans!

HYDERABAD: For the Deccan Chargers, who are on a downward spiral in this season’s IPL, it couldn’t get any worse than this. Their on-field misfortune seems to be reflecting off the pitch as well. If they were expecting a capacity crowd to egg them on in the four IPL matches at the Uppal stadium, their home turf, they are in for a big disappointment. There will be a drastic reduction of 7,500 seats at the 39,000-capacity Uppal stadium thanks to the ongoing canopy work in the North and South stands.Confirming the news, D Girish, general manager of Deccan Chargers, said, “We are forced to forgo 7,500 seats because of safety issues arising from the canopy work. After discussions with police officials, we have decided not to take any risk while conducting a big tournament like IPL. The entire second tier of the South stand (3,500 seats) will be closed while the first and second tiers of North stand (4,000 seats) too will be barred for the public. We are helpless. It is disappointing. We had a good crowd at Visakhapatnam and Cuttack. Even in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata there are good crowds,’’ said Girish.After playing the first four “home away from home” matches at Visakhapatnam and Cuttack, Chargers, who are at the bottom of the nine-team table, will be playing their first home match against Adam Gilchrist’s Kings XI in an 8 p.m. match on May 8.It will be followed by a 4 p.m. game against the Delhi Daredevils on May 10. The next two matches are on May 18 (against Rajasthan Royals) and May 20 (Royal Challengers Bangalore).Despite their pathetic performance, Girish expressed the hope that people will come to watch them play.“We are already getting requests for corporate boxes,’’ he said. The sale of online tickets began on Monday and the offline ticket sales for the first two matches will start from May 2. The regular tickets are priced at Rs 300, Rs 400 and Rs 750.The owners’ lounge is priced at Rs 25,000 per ticket (South West ground floor) while super hospitality ticket is priced at Rs 15,000 (South West ground foor).