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On sale in ‘black’: ₹50,000 tickets for Ind vs Eng fixture in Lucknow
The match is scheduled to be played at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on October 29. This will be the penultimate game of the five World Cup matches scheduled at the venue.
Tickets for the upcoming Cricket World Cup fixture between host India and reigning champions England, to be played in Lucknow, are being sold in the black market for as much as ₹50,000. The illicit sale is being done on close-knit groups on social networking sites, confirmed sources in the police department.
The match is scheduled to be played at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on October 29. This will be the penultimate game of the five World Cup matches scheduled at the venue.
U.P. Police’s special director general (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said: “The state police’s special agencies as well as the Lucknow police are keeping tabs on suspicious social media accounts involved in the black marketing of tickets for the Cricket World Cup matches to be played at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.” He also warned of strict action against people involved in such activities.
While tickets, which are normally priced at ₹499 (East and West Upper blocks) and ₹4,000 (North Corporate boxes), are being sold for ₹5,000 to ₹50,000 in black, there are die-hard fans ready to buy them no matter the cost.
“Ever since the World Cup fixtures were announced, I’ve been running from pillar to post to buy tickets for the India-England match. However, the official ticket booking website still says ‘coming soon’,” said an avid fan, preferring anonymity, who ended up buying tickets in black.
“In my friends’ group on WhatsApp, I was offered a ticket for public stands for ₹21,000. So, I bought two tickets, for me and my wife,” he said. “Watching a World Cup match involving India is a big dream of mine.”
Upon cross-checking, the official booking website still said the India-England match tickets would be available soon. “Due to high demand, you are waiting in line till your chance comes; be alert, dropping off will make you lose your place in the line and waiting in the queue does not guarantee successful ticket booking,” read the instructions on the site.
Another cricket fan, a digital marketing expert, said: “I’m ready to buy tickets at any cost.”
“Please provide them to me if you have,” she told the reporter when asked for her reaction.
“Besides looking for tickets online, I make sure to stop at Ekana Stadium’s counter every morning on my way to my office hoping that I may get tickets for the match,” she added. “I have been told that days before the match I may be able to secure physical tickets from the stadium’s counter.”
The ticket crisis has made things difficult even for the hosting unit, the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association.
“We aren’t the ticket sales authority. Even we are in a fix over the availability of tickets for the match. It’s purely the responsibility of the International Cricket Council, and we are just supporting them,” UPCA secretary Arvind Srivastava said on Friday.
He, however, added the UPCA had received its quota of tickets. “We have got our quota of tickets, but that’s not for public distribution or sale through ticket counters. If somebody comes to us, we will try to manage tickets for them,” he added.
Srivastava also expressed surprise as to why free tickets were not being distributed in non-India matches even when the venue was relatively empty during matches.
