Nagpur: The Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) is under the scanner after a staggering 30,000 tickets for the India-England ODI at Jamtha Stadium in Nagpur were reportedly sold within an hour on February 2. The claim has left cricket enthusiasts baffled, raising serious concerns about transparency in ticket sales.
With tickets selling at a rate of 8 per second and 500 per minute, fans are questioning whether this is even possible or if there is something suspicious going on behind the scenes? The bigger mystery remains– how many tickets were actually available to the public?
Gold Rate
Monday 10 Feb. 2025
Where did the tickets go?
VCA maintains that the stadium has a seating capacity of 44,000, out of which approximately 14,000 tickets are reserved for various purposes, including:
• Lifetime members (1,200 members getting 5 tickets each)
• Registered clubs and district associations
• Police department, district administration, and municipal officials
• Ministers, bureaucrats, and politicians
This leaves around 30,000 tickets for the general public — but the burning question is, can such a massive number be sold out in just one hour?
Online sales or an offline fix?
While VCA claims that ticket sales were handled entirely online, speculations suggest that a large chunk of tickets was diverted through offline channels to insiders. This has led to two major issues:
1. Disappointment and frustration among genuine cricket fans
2. A flourishing black market where tickets are being resold at five times the original price
Reports indicate that ₹1,000 tickets are being sold for ₹5,000 in the resale market. If online sales were genuinely open to all, how did this large-scale black marketing emerge?
VCA’s evasive response
Despite mounting questions, VCA officials continue to deflect the issue, offering the same standard response:
“Everything is online. It’s not in our hands. Keep trying, and you’ll get a ticket.”
However, with tickets disappearing at a lightning pace, fans are skeptical. Attempts to reach VCA officials for clarification were met with silence, as calls went unanswered.
Who really gets the tickets?
An analysis of the 44,000 seats at Jamtha Stadium shows that a significant portion never reaches the public:
• 6,000 tickets go to VCA’s lifetime members
• 5,000 are reserved for school children and differently-abled individuals
• A large number is unofficially distributed to government departments and VIPs
The result? The real cricket lovers — the common fans — are left out.
Is it just luck or a systematic exclusion?
With insiders allegedly securing a bulk of the tickets and thousands being resold at exorbitant prices, ordinary fans are left helpless and angry. VCA’s opaque system has fueled suspicions of a rigged ticket distribution process, where only those with the right connections get access to premium seats.
As the controversy deepens, one question remains:
Is VCA truly committed to fair ticket distribution, or is this just another example of favouritism and exploitation in Indian cricket?
Notably, Nagpur Police have cracked down on black-marketing of the match tickets. Two persons were arrested near VCA Stadium in Civil Lines for allegedly selling tickets at inflated prices.
