Today's Edition
KUUMAR SHYAM (ABU DHABI)
Tickets to the India-Pakistan clash in the ICC Champions Trophy were sold out even before it got listed on the official website at 4pm on Monday – even faster than Coldplay, who performed last month in Abu Dhabi. Many people that Aletihad contacted said they suspected something is amiss, given the fact that the pre-announcement for the sale of tickets was made just five hours before.
Pakistan are the hosts of the Champions Trophy, which will be held from February 19 to March 9. But they had to split the hosting rights after India's refusal to play there. India has opted for Dubai to play its three group matches and the semi-final if they reach that stage.
India's rivals in Group A consist of Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand while Group B will have England, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa. However, it is one clash between India and Pakistan, which alone rakes in more revenue than the rest of the tournament, the accompanying advertising revenue enough to put the funds of any event and the nation's cricket board in the green.
The Dubai International Stadium can only house 25,000 people – very less in the context – and each of them seems to have disappeared in a flash on Monday. "When I saw the notification's initial lines at just past 11, I immediately logged in because I knew that the ICC announced earlier that tickets for matches in Dubai will be later, when they opened up booking for the games in Pakistan," said Ali Akbar Alichi, when Aletihad contacted him at around 4.20pm.
"I didn't read until later it said 4pm. I am still in queue and it says my number is 29,886," he added before being informed of the seating capacity and his hopes shrunk. The Sharjah resident said he lingered a little in case others got logged out or faced technical issues.
Another resident from Dubai's Al Nahda, Sudhashree Patnaik, said she saw "Sold Out" signs across all category tickets around 1pm and the computer initially also flagged the signs of some six-digit code on trying to log in later. The code never came. "I think their servers crashed or hopefully they are releasing tickets in batches with more to come. It happens usually so I am still hopeful," she said.
The other possibility for such fans will be if both India and Pakistan also make their way to the final as the top two from their group. However, the venue of the final in that scenario is then uncertain. If India do not reach the final, Lahore is the designated venue.
