Cricket fans have gone to extremes to get tickets for the much-awaited India vs Pakistan match to be played in Dubai on August 28.
The first batch of tickets for the clash between the archrivals was sold out within three hours on August 15. IANS spoke to some lucky people who got a chance to buy tickets in the first batch.
Indian national and Sharjah resident Saad said that he logged into the ticket portal from multiple computers to get tickets.
"I queued up on the site from 8 a.m. I saw updates about ticket sales and opened the website on four computers at once. I was lucky as I managed to buy tickets within 20 minutes." He said that he spent around 1000 dirhams to get the ticket. Tickets were available in bundles of three matches.
"I will not be able to go for the other two matches and will give them to friends or family members. This will be the first time that Saad will be watching an India-Pakistan match at the stadium. He is one of those who tried to get tickets for the match between India and Pakistan during the T20 World Cup last year but failed.
Dubai resident Vishal Singh said that he was able to get a premium ticket after four hours in the online queue. He spent more than 1200 dirhams on this ticket. He said that India and Pakistan matches happen only occasionally in Dubai, and "I didn't want to miss this opportunity".
The sale of the first batch started on August 15 and there was a long wait to get the tickets. Dubai resident Mustafa was one of the lucky few who got the tickets, but he had to stay logged in for eight hours!
"I had logged on to the portal in the morning on 15th August and was looking to see when it would go live. Finally, when the ticket sales started in the evening, though there were more than 500 ahead of me, I got the ticket. Within one hour only!," said Mustafa.
Many fans, who were not lucky enough to get India vs Pakistan match tickets, are reserving their seats for the final and Super 4 match. Indian expatriate Amardeep said that "I am sure these archrivals are going to clash in the final, and booked the ticket for the final... I hope to be there."
A look at the classifieds websites and Facebook reveals that tickets for the prestigious match are being advertised for up to 5,500 dirhams against its actual rate of 2,500. The general admission ticket, which costs 250 dirhams, is listed for resale at 2,500 dirhams.
Asia Cup ticketing partner Platinum List warned that reselling tickets is illegal and will be automatically cancelled. Customers are advised not to purchase secondary ticketing websites or online sales sites as it is possible that the ticket will not be valid for admission or will be cancelled.
The second batch of tickets for the India-Pakistan match of the Asia Cup in Dubai went on sale on Wednesday (August 17), but a new condition has been added to buy tickets. According to the organisers, India-Pakistan tickets will now be available only in packages.
Ticket sales are on a first-come, first-served basis. This means fans have to queue up online and keep logged in for hours. Many fans faced a waiting list of more than five lakh!
