The Cricket World Cup is just 17 days away, but there’s still a chance to get tickets for many of the first round matches, provided you don’t mind watching some of the less fancied teams.
Unsurprisingly tickets for India’s key games have been snapped up, though the shifting of India vs. England on Feb. 27 from Kolkata’s Eden Gardens to Chinnaswamy Stadium might free up a few, since some people won’t be able to change plans and travel to Bangalore.
The only India match for which tickets are still available is the Ireland game on March 6, also in Bangalore. It’s unlikely to be a classic, but you never know, bearing in mind Ireland dumped Pakistan out of the World Cup in 2007.
If you’re looking for tickets, check on the official World Cup Web site. There is a tickets section, which takes users through to a page run by Kyazoonga.com, the official ticketing partner for the World Cup. Hopefully they’ll have an easier time handling online traffic than the Commonwealth Games ticketing partner, IRCTC, the state-run railways reservations portal, did.
A quick hunt around the site shows that there are still tickets for some exciting clashes, including South Africa vs. England in Chennai on March 6 and Australia vs. New Zealand in Nagpur on Feb. 25. Tickets for the semis (in Colombo and Mohali) and final (Mumbai) are not on sale yet, but it’s possible to sign up on the official website so you can be alerted when they become available.
India is hosting the World Cup with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Tickets for matches in Sri Lanka can be bought on the official website, while Bangladesh has designated a number of City Bank and Agrani Bank branches as retail outlets.
For online purchases, local customers can use credit or debit cards, while those buying from outside India will need to use a valid international credit card. Tickets are delivered by courier, although the site FAQs don’t say whether they courier to international addresses. Tickets can also be picked up at the venue. If you’re in India already, I’d go for the courier option to avoid extra hassle at the stadium.
Fans can also buy tickets directly from the venues, though be prepared to queue and be wary of the dangers that seem to crop up whenever India hosts a major sporting event.
According to a NDTV report, a wall at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium collapsed today as hundreds of people waited in line to buy tickets. Two people were injured, the report said. For the second time in as many weeks, the World Cup preparations veered along worryingly similar lines to the mess seen in the run-up to last October’s Commonwealth Games.
So much for learning the lessons from that debacle, and all the more reason to book tickets through the relatively safer Internet route. What could possibly go wrong? Actually, forget I asked that.
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