As the Indian Premier League (IPL) returns to Visakhapatnam after almost five years, there is a huge demand for the tickets for the match between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) scheduled to be held on Sunday (March 31) here at Dr YSR ACA VDCA Stadium. Cricket lovers complained that all the tickets were sold within minutes after the sale started at 10 a.m. on March 27 (Wednesday).
Cricket lovers redeem tickets for the IPL matches by showing their online ticket confirmation slips at a counter arranged by the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) at Swarna Bharathi Indoor Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: V. RAJU
A Ravi Kumar, a private employee from the city, said that he had logged in to the app to book the tickets at around 10.10 a.m., and was shocked to see that his waiting list number was 69,000. He was also informed that he has to wait for almost 50 minutes for his turn to book tickets. After a long wait and with his number nearing, his excitement turned into disappointment, as he found that the tickets were sold out.
J. Praveen, a B.Tech student from the city, said that anticipating huge demand, five of his friends tried to buy tickets right from 10 a.m. He said that only one of them was lucky and got two tickets. Many cricket lovers said that some of the tickets should have been sold offline.
Cricket lovers attributed the demand for Sunday’s match tickets to former Indian and CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni playing in it, IPL returning to Visakhapatnam after five years and the day being a weekend.
Meanwhile, the tickets for the second match in Visakhapatnam between DC and Kolkatta Knight Riders on April 3 are still available by the evening of March 27. Cricket lovers who booked the tickets have thronged the Swarna Bharathi Indoor Stadium with the ticket confirmation slips to collect the original tickets.
It was learnt that team CSK will be reaching Visakhapatnam on Thursday. Team DC will play a match against Rajasthan Royals on Thursday at Jaipur and would return to Visakhapatnam on Friday. Meanwhile, KKR who will play its next match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Friday (March 29), is expected to reach Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
