Poor response to ticket sales for Kolkata Test

The abject surrender of the Indian team in the first Test at Mumbai has suddenly affected the sale of tickets in Kolkata. The city will host the second Test match from March 11. As of now, the response to the sale of tickets is very poor.

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) usually sells its tickets through clubs and institutions. This time most of the club officials are yet to pick up their full quota of tickets. There are 37 first division clubs and 56 second division clubs. Most of the officials of the various clubs said that there has been no demand for tickets. Samar Paul, who is the secretary of the Aryan Club said, "most of our members are quite influential. We had announced long back that those wanting tickets will have to deposit money at the club by March 2.

However, only six people have deposited their money." The same is the case with the other clubs as well. The first division clubs get 300 tickets while the second division clubs get 200 tickets. The rates of the tickets this time are Rs 150, Rs 400 and Rs 500. On Friday, most of the officials admitted that even though there were some who were interested in taking the lowest denomination tickets, there were no takers for the Rs 400 and Rs 500 category.

The CAB joint secretary Debdas Bannerjee is quite worried at the turn of events. But he feels that the demand for tickets will go up once the two sides reach Kolkata. "It has also happened in the past," he said on Friday. However, looking at the trend, the CAB is thinking of having daily sale of tickets during the Test match. Usually, the CAB prefers to sell the tickets of all the five days together. However, after India's loss in three days, the organisers may have to resort to this.

That does not mean that Eden Gardens will remain empty. Sixty five percent of the total capacity of the stadium are complimentary tickets. These are distributed to the Life Members, Associate Members, Annual Members, Ministers and their coterie, Kolkata Police and a host of other dignitaries. The demand for these complimentary tickets is already on the rise. However, not many are ready to shell out money to buy tickets.