Scramble for IPL Tickets, Cane-charge at Chinnaswamy
Bengaluru: The final match of the IPL 2016 being shifted to KSCA’s Chinnaswamy stadium, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru barging into the final, spirited teamwork by the RCB and explosive batting performances by Kohli, de Villiers and others in the last few fixtures, have charged the atmosphere among the cricket enthusiasts in the city.
The RCB has made it to the final only twice in the past and has not won the trophy so far. Since the final is at the home ground this season, the fans hope to cheer their favourite team to such an extent that the team would have a historic home win. Already, A B de Villiers has asserted that his match-winning knock in the qualifier fixture on Tuesday was, for the most part, motivated by the crowd support.
The final match is scheduled to the held at the Chinnaswamy stadium on May 29. Everyone hopes that rain would not play the spoilsport, although there could be a standby option. Although tickets can be bought online, everyone is not Internet-savvy.
As such, the scramble for tickets was but natural. As the tickets were put on sale, a huge number of cricket-lovers thronged gate no. 12. This led to pushing and jostling around, which forced the police to resort to a mild cane-charge.
Yet the rush remained between 11 am and 6 pm. A good number of enthusiasts, having failed to get tickets, went back in disappointment.
It is sad that cricket-crazy fans are not able to realize that these T20 matches are a big tamasha or, at best, freestyle wrestling matches and they are being taken for a ride and there are members of the mafia, who are linining the pockets, viz. politicians, professors, corporate heads, etc. They have united for a common purpose.
It is high time that the Supreme Court comes down heavily on BCCI, IPL, etc. and completely streamlines the system and sees that they are headed by ex-cricketers of repute (and not opportunists, who thrive by blending into a corrupt system) and advised by professional financial experts on investments, spendings and promotion of not only cricket, but other international sports.
Cricket is a sport that is not internationally known and please tell me how many people in different countries of the world have heard of Virat Kohli? He has been heard of only in a few cricket-playing countries. When Maria Sharapova was asked at Wimbledon, if she had heard heard about Sachin Tendulkar, she replied in the negative? This offended his diehard fans and some drowned their sorrows by gulping booze. How sad? These people are only known in the cricket playing countries and in India they are treated as gods. Otherwise, they are mere mortals who like to put on airs.