Cuttack: With just days to go for the India-England ODI match at Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium on February 9, the cricket fever has reached a frenzy. Over 10,000 enthusiastic fans have begun queuing up since Tuesday evening to secure their tickets. The excitement is palpable, with the number of fans increasing by the hour.
As per reports, approximately 11,500 tickets for the upcoming match at Barabati Stadium will be available for sale at various counters on February 5 and 6, spanning over two days. However, as of today, over 10,000 people have already gathered near the stadium, with their numbers continuing to rise.
Undeterred by the challenges, enthusiastic fans including women spent a sleepless night on the roads, eagerly waiting for the ticket counters to open, in a desperate bid to secure a seat for the highly-anticipated India-England ODI match.
In a surprising turn of events, brokers have hired women from various slums, paying them Rs 2,000 each, to stand in line and purchase tickets on their behalf. However, the police have refused to allow these women to stand in line with barricades, leaving them stranded on the roads.
Each person will be eligible to purchase a maximum of two tickets from the gallery counter, and they will need to produce valid identification documents such as Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards, or PAN cards.
However, police’s decision to deny permission for overnight queues has created a volatile situation near the Barabati Stadium, where over 10,000 people have gathered to purchase tickets. With the crowd swelling by the minute, the risk of a stampede is extremely high. As people wait anxiously for permission to form a queue, the atmosphere is growing increasingly tense.
