“Please arrange some passes or tickets. It’s the World Cup, and I don’t want to miss India’s match on home turf in Lucknow.”
“I have some friends coming from outside India to meet me and also to see India’s match in Lucknow so please arrange some tickets.”
“My kids are desperate to watch Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma live, so I need tickets or passes at any cost.”
These demands are just a few examples of how people are desperate to see the World Cup clash between India and defending champions England on Sunday, at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket stadium and they go out to everyone from bureaucrats, politicians, sports officials and even to journalists.
The desperation is such that people are ready even to procure tickets through the black market. On Friday, a close associate of a member of parliament called up the Hindustan Times correspondent and asked for tickets.
“If possible, please help me buy tickets for the match,” he said, adding, “You are a sports journalist and getting tickets for you won’t be a problem.”
Fans were even asking journalists at the media entrance gate of the Ekana stadium on Friday about tickets. “I am here since Wednesday, enquiring for tickets, but to no avail. I wish to get tickets at any cost. Can you help me?” asked one Manish Mishra, who has come all the way from Gonda to watch the match.
{{/usCountry}}Fans were even asking journalists at the media entrance gate of the Ekana stadium on Friday about tickets. “I am here since Wednesday, enquiring for tickets, but to no avail. I wish to get tickets at any cost. Can you help me?” asked one Manish Mishra, who has come all the way from Gonda to watch the match.
{{/usCountry}}He even gave his phone number to the HT reporter so that he could get tickets, if they could be made available on Saturday, on the eve of the match. “What would I say to my colleagues in Bangalore that even though the match was happening in Lucknow, I could not see it. I want to take a selfie from the stadium during the match and that would be enough to let everyone know that I was part of the World Cup,” said Mishra, a software engineer.
Many fans, who didn’t get tickets for the match, were even seen requesting the police personnel outside the stadium for tickets. “Sir, can you arrange tickets for us. If you need, I am ready to pay extra,” said an onlooker to a cop, waving a wad of ₹500 notes.
The crisis for tickets has arisen due to pre-bookings online as the International Cricket Council (ICC) chose not to sell tickets offline and many missed the online booking opportunity with the hope that they will book tickets manually.
According to estimates, around 4,000 tickets have been booked by foreigners and NRIs, including English fans, as they have been following the England team to all match venues. “We are expecting more tourists from other countries for the India-England match,” said an official of the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association.
UPCA secretary, Arvind Srivastava, too, said that the UPCA distributed 10% of their quota of tickets, whereas 45,000 tickets in a capacity crowd of 50,000 have been sold online through the ICC’s ticket booking site. “There was no sale of tickets offline and all the tickets were fully sold almost 10 days back,” he said.
A huge number of ticket-seekers even approached the local sports officials, politicians, and bureaucrats on Friday. “We are flooded with calls and requests for tickets, but it’s not in our hands,” a senior official of the Uttar Pradesh Sports Directorate said on Friday.