T20 World Cup: Fans turned away due to ticketing debacle

Scotland's Josh Davey(L)and Richie Berrington run between the wickets during the World T20 cricket tournament match between Scotland and Zimbabwe. Photo / Getty Images.

The T20 World Cup in India has started brightly, but it hit a hurdle on Thursday night.

As Zimbabwe did battle with Scotland in their Group B match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Nagpur, it became clear the reason for the small turnout in the stands wasn't just because the fixture was between two neutral teams.

With thousands of seats at the ground unoccupied, it should have been simple for people to fork over their rupees (tickets cost between $2.08 and $4.15) at the door and waltz right in. It wasn't.

Those turning up to the stadium expecting to buy a ticket were left with nothing because tickets weren't being sold at the ground. This was first picked up by ESPNcricinfo writer Jarrod Kimber, who tweeted about it to his 28.3 thousand Twitter followers.

Per his tweets, fans without pre-purchased tickets were forced to travel to the old stadium in Nagpur - approximately 20km away - to buy their tickets there. The new stadium opened in 2008 and has a capacity of 45,000, though it was virtually empty for the clash between the two cricketing minnows.

In an article for ESPNcricinfo, Kimber and Arya Yuyutsu wrote that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was in charge of the tournament's overall ticketing policy, but individual state associations had the responsibility of organising ticket arrangements at each match.

A VCA spokesman was quoted as saying the local newspaper had advertised how the ticketing policy for Thursday's match would work, but he was unable to explain why the BCCI hadn't been notified in order to warn fans of the need to pre-purchase tickets.

"We love cricket, which is why we are here even in this heat to watch Scotland take on Zimbabwe," one group of college students from Nagpur told ESPNcricinfo.

"But we can't book online because of the network and the ticket sales are going on at the other ground. There's so few people in, why can't they just let us in? We are even willing to pay at the gate."

You've got to feel for any Scottish fans who made the trek to support their side. They might not get too many chances to do so if the Scots get knocked out early on in the tournament as is expected.

Zimbabwe eventually won the match after their total of 7-147 from 20 overs proved too much for Scotland to overcome.

Sean Williams anchored the innings with 53 from 36 balls, while Elton Chigumbura chimed in with a handy 20 from 17 down the order.

Then their bowlers did the job, bowling Scotland out for 136 in the final over.

Wellington Masakadza was their best with the ball, taking 4-28 from his four overs.

-- news.com.au