(From top) Actor Anubhav charms, fireworks, dancers and captains of the eight teams during the inaugural ceremony at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, May 2: Sweltering conditions and a dawn-to-dusk strike conspired to make the opening match of the Odisha Premier League (OPL)-II a rather lacklustre affair. Most galleries of the 45,000-capacity Barabati Stadium here went empty with just a handful of spectators cheering the players on.

Rough estimates suggested there were just 300-odd spectators to witness the clash between the Dhauli and Barabati teams, which kicked off around 4pm today.

Dhauli defeated Barabati by 17 runs.

“A lot of people probably could not turn up because of the Cuttack strike called by certain organisations to protest against the demolition of religious structures in the city. Apart from this, the heat certainly did deter many cricket fans from watching the match live from the stands,” said Jiten Das, a spectator.

The turnout for the second match of the day between Baitarani and Subarnarekha improved, but marginally. A group of youngsters engrossed in watching the exciting IPL tie between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab at a popular hangout in the city attributed the absence of celeb quotient to poor response at the stadium.

“Unlike last time, there are no actors or actresses cheering for the teams this year. We were there for the inaugural ceremony yesterday just to watch Anubhav and others perform,” said Deepika, a college student.

However, authorities of the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA), which is organising the Twenty20 tournament after a year’s gap, are hopeful of a turnaround in the coming days. “Public support is crucial for OPL and we are sure that people will come in large numbers to cheer the players for the subsequent games,” said OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera.

A star-studded inauguration of the tournament at the Barabati Stadium saw a massive turnout yesterday evening. This led the organisers to believe that more people would go to watch the matches at the stadium, considering the fact that they would not be telecast live this time.

Fireworks and dazzling performances by filmstars lit up the stadium. Numero uno actor Anubhav Mohanty, who joined the ruling Biju Janata Dal last week, and actress Priya set the stage on fire with their moves while comedian-actor Pappu Pom Pom amused the spectators with his sparkling wit.

Captains of the eight participating teams — Barabati, Dhauli, Baitarini, Subarnarekha, Mahanadi, Rushikulya, Konark and Chilika — took part in the ceremonial march past after which the OPL-II trophy was unveiled.

All matches will be played at two venues — Barabati Stadium, Cuttack (May 2 to 12) and VSS Stadium, Sambalpur (May 3 to 8).

This year, the OCA is conducting the tournament on its own with a Rs 2-crore budget after most franchise owners pulled out after OPL-I in 2011, leading to the cancellation of the event last year.

The team owners stayed away from the event following raids by income tax and vigilance departments, who were probing into allegations of black money having been invested in the first edition of the OPL.