The World Cup’s hosts and regulatory bodies, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC), have opted to make tickets for non-India games available before making tickets for India games available. This technique, it is claimed, stems from worries that the ticketing website would crash if online counters for all games are opened at the same time. This potential difficulty is partly due to the high demand for India’s matches.
This scenario is not unprecedented. The previous edition of the 50-over World Cup, staged in England in 2019, had such high demand for tickets to India’s matches that technical issues forced the website to crash. The large number of fans attempting to access the website caused it to malfunction.
“The staggered sale approach is designed to handle the expected surge in demand efficiently,” an insider explained. It is the most efficient method of managing the system for the benefit of the fans.”
In a recent statement, the ICC indicated that ticket sales would take place in stages to accommodate the anticipated demand for tickets and to give as many fans as possible a fair chance to see the world’s best players in action.
Tickets for India games against Australia in Chennai (on October 8), Afghanistan in Delhi (on October 11), and Bangladesh in Pune (on October 19) will go on sale on August 31, earlier to the complete sale of non-India games. Tickets for the New Zealand match in Dharamsala (on October 22), the England match in Lucknow (on October 29), and the Sri Lanka match in Mumbai (on November 2) are available from September 2.
Tickets for the November matches against South Africa in Kolkata and the Netherlands in Bengaluru will go on sale on September 2. Finally, tickets for the much awaited India-Pakistan match in Ahmedabad on October 14 will go on sale on September 3. Beginning August 15, fans are urged to register for tickets.
Despite inquiries, Book My Show, the ticketing partner, did not respond to this staggered and phased sale plan.
Timeline for the ticket sale:
- August 25: Non-India warm-up matches and all non-India event matches
- August 30: India matches at Guwahati and Trivandrum
- August 31: India matches at Chennai, Delhi, and Pune
- September 1: India matches at Dharamsala, Lucknow, and Mumbai
- September 2: India matches at Bengaluru, Kolkata
- September 3: India match at Ahmedabad
- September 15: Semifinals and Final
