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Odisha
Photo: OTV
Cricket buffs from every nook and canny of Odisha thronged the Millennium city to purchase tickets for the upcoming T20I match between India and South Africa at Barabati Stadium scheduled to be played on June 12.
Though the offline ticket counters will open from 9 am today, fans made a beeline from Wednesday night itself to purchase tickets in order to watch and enjoy the high voltage clash between the hosts and the visitors.
As many as nine counters have been set up--seven for male and the rest two for female fans. While a total of 12,000 tickets will be sold through counters, the norm for selling of ticket is ‘two tickets per buyer’. A fan can only purchase two tickets by producing any of his identity proofs. The offline ticket sales will continue for two days starting from today.
While 5,000 tickets have already been sold off through online, 8,000 tickets have been sold to clubs, schools and other organisations associated with the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA).
Elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure law and order during the offline ticket sales as it is expected that at least 20,000 to 25,000 people will throng to purchase tickets. Barricades have been set up near the counters to control the crowd. As many as 10 platoons of police forces have been deployed around the stadium to maintain law and order.
"Like any other Indian, I am also a big cricket fan but never got the opportunity to watch a match live sitting in the stadium. An international match will be conducted at the Stadium after a long time. So I am excited and hopeful of getting a ticket. I am standing in the long queue since last night” said a fan.
“Though many star cricketers of India will not play in the series, we are still optimistic about the victory for the Men in Blue. We still have some great players in the team and I am sure that they will perform well,” said another fan.
