Bhubaneswar: As a massive crowd gathered at the ticket counters of the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Wednesday, a stampede-like situation erupted during the offline ticket sale for the 2nd ODI match between India vs England in Cuttack. As like online sales, the offline tickets were sold out.
Almost after a gap of five years, the Odisha got the opportunity to host an international One-day match on 9th February, the cricket lovers of the State created an overwhelming rush that led to chaotic scenes at the offline ticket counters today.
Thousands of cricket fans began assembling near the stadium on Tuesday night, while the counter opened at 9AM on Wednesday long queues had formed with a hope to get tickets to witness their favourite cricketers, including Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, in action.
The lack of adequate crowd management led to widespread disorder, the locals blamed the Odisha Cricket Association as well as the administration for poor planning and insufficient facilities. The fans who were standing on the line from Tuesday night expressed that minimum facilities are not available even if drinking water facilities are not available.
In the 44,000 capacity Barabati Stadium, 4000 tickets were sold out online in an hour. Similarly, nearly 12,000 tickets were also sold offline.
Ahead of the event, the Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Sports Minister Suryabanshi Suraj and Sports and Youth Services secretary Bhaskar Joyti Sarma visited the stadium and conducted various review meetings with different stakeholders for the smooth and safe conducting of the ODI at Cuttack. Today’s situation proved the mismanagement is due to lack of coordination.
