HYDERABAD: People standing in long serpentine queues, battling the scorching heat, cursing their stars (and the counter salesman), and yet finding the zeal to grab the Indian Premier League (IPL) match tickets is a scene that can be observed every year in all the venues spread across the country.
It is no different when it comes to the ‘city of pearls’. However, this season seems to be less chaotic in the city, as far as the ticket sales are concerned, with the size of crowd flocking to retail outlets getting smaller. At the Gymkhana Grounds on Sunday, there were very few takers. If local franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) ticketing partners eventsnow are to be believed, the main cause behind the thinning of crowd is proper distribution of the retail outlets.
“Last year, there were 12 retail outlets. This year there are 15. There may not have been a substantial increase in the numbers, but the way the outlets have been spread across the city is what has made the difference,” one of eventsnow officials told Express on Sunday. “The tickets were only sold at Just Bake stores and the three stadiums (Gymkhana, LB Stadium and Saroornagar Stadium) last season. This time we have also opened stalls in metro stations, malls etc,” the official added.
The online sales began on March 23, with the cash counter sales opening five days ago. The official said that around 35,000 tickets were up for grabs when the sales started. The official refused to divulge the details of the number of tickets sold till Sunday.
Less footfall at the counters notwithstanding, the Rs 500 worth tickets (cheapest) have been sold out for four (SRH vs Rajasthan Royals, SRH vs Mumbai Indians, SRH vs Chennai Super Kings and SRH vs Royal Challengers Bangalore) of the seven matches set to be played here. The most expensive ticket is priced at Rs 5,000.
With the season for SRH set to start on April 9, the question of black-marketing is also hovering. It may be recalled that many arrests were made regarding the same last year. The tickets can be bought from 11:30 am to 8:30 pm at the 15 outlets.