Fans slam ‘lottery system’ of ticket sale

Sireesh, a student in a private engineering college in Bengaluru said the unavailability of tickets at a lower price played spoilsport. “I got a tip-off that some Rs. 1000 tickets were being sold across the counter on Tuesday. I arrived immediately but they were sold out and only Rs 3000 tickets were available. 

Being a student, I could not afford it and my dream of watching a World Cup match here remains a dream still,” he said. Bangladesh is more or less out of the World T20 but the Indians were rooting for their favourite team. 

While many tickets were sold on a ‘lottery system’ online, the system drew brickbats from many at the stadium. “I understand the logic behind selling tickets online to minimise fraud and increase convenience. To hell with the lottery system. I was asked to wait for more than eight hours in the ‘online queue’. 

The organisers should make sure that a part of tickets, of lower price denominations, are sold across the counter on match days too,” said Preethi, an employee in a consulting firm. The entire area around the Chinnaswamy Stadium turned a fortress and traffic snarls extended to kilometres from the stadium. Traffic constables had a hard time in managing the traffic and the relentless heat made their job tougher. “We are used to it now. 

However, earlier the city seldom used to be hot and we wouldn’t have a problem in managing the traffic. Now, this heat is beyond tolerance levels and we cannot blame the motorists too who seek shortcuts to move faster,” a traffic police constable said.

Petty vendors selling National Flags, masks, fancy hairdos and duplicate jersey made a killing by selling them at a premium. “We only make a living out of selling these. People are rich here and they don’t mind spending,” a vendor said before rushing off to sell a Royal Challengers Bangalore jersey to a group of female fans.