HYDERABAD: Cricket fans in Hyderabad have spent the week glued to ticketing apps, hoping for a chance to watch Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli in action against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their final IPL league-stage clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
For many, the excitement quickly gave way to frustration.
Tickets disappeared within minutes of release, queue numbers crossed one lakh and social media was flooded with black-market offers, many of them suspected scams.
“I was eagerly waiting for the match because I was really excited to watch Kohli play,” said Mohammed Faiz, who tried booking tickets for hours. “I was waiting from around 3 pm, but the queue on the District app was too long. It is disheartening because we do not get many chances to watch him play here.”
Fans said demand for the SRH-RCB fixture far exceeded that of a regular league game, driven largely by RCB’s recent winning streak and the possibility of watching Kohli live in Hyderabad.
Twenty-year-old Richa Kaushik said she and her friend kept the booking app open on phones and laptops from around 3.30 pm, continuously refreshing pages in the hope of getting through.
“The moment bookings opened around 5 pm, queue positions had already crossed one lakh. Even after waiting till nearly 9 pm, the tickets were sold out,” she said.
Kaushik, who is in Hyderabad from Mumbai for her summer vacation, said the disappointment only worsened after black-market sellers began flooding social media.
“There were so many scams on Instagram. The algorithm somehow figured out that I was looking for tickets,” she said. “People were selling tickets at three times the original price. A seat that originally cost around Rs 750 to Rs 2,000 was being sold for Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000.”
Online booking experience frustrates IPL fans
Fans said the AirAsia stand was among the first sections to disappear from the portal, while rumours of additional ticket releases kept supporters repeatedly checking the app for days.
Lakshmi Bhati, a student, said she spent nearly three hours trying to secure tickets on multiple devices.
“I have never seen Kohli play in real life and this felt like my chance,” she said. “The demand was unbelievable. I was willing to pay the official price, but the booking experience was extremely frustrating.”
While some fans walked away disappointed, others managed to survive the rush.
“My friends used to tease me every time RCB lost, but after this winning streak, I’m glad I never stopped believing in them,” said Tanmay Sharma, a 27-year-old techie who eventually secured a ticket after hours of trying. “After constantly refreshing pages and stressing over tickets, I still can’t believe I’m finally going to watch the match live.”
The surge in demand has also revived concerns over black-ticket sales around the stadium.
With nearly 40,000 spectators expected for the match, Malkajgiri police said surveillance had been intensified following repeated incidents of illegal ticket sales during previous IPL fixtures in Hyderabad.
Malkajgiri Police Commissioner B Sumathi said several persons had already been apprehended during the season for allegedly reselling tickets purchased in bulk through online platforms.
According to police, such tickets are often sold near the stadium or circulated through personal networks at inflated prices shortly before matches.
Police have also flagged a rise in fake ticketing scams and phishing applications designed to resemble genuine booking platforms.
“Nearly 1,000 attempts involving fake ticket sales through phishing applications have been identified so far,” Sumathi said, adding that task force and special operations teams were conducting regular checks around the stadium.
For many fans, meanwhile, the disappointment goes beyond missing a cricket match.
With Kohli nearing the latter stages of his career and Hyderabad hosting only a limited number of high-profile fixtures each season, supporters say missing out on Friday’s game feels like losing one of the few chances to watch one of India’s biggest cricket stars in person.
Meanwhile, Malkajgiri police announced traffic curbs in the vicinity of the Uppal stadium.