IPL fever grips Kol, over 40k tickets sold for KKR vs SRH match at Eden today
Times of India | 23 March 2024
Kolkata: Eden Gardens is likely to witness a near packed-house show on Saturday when the city franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their first match of the IPL 2024. As per reports, till Friday morning, 45,000 tickets have been sold. The total capacity of the Eden Gardens is around 65,000.
The buzz in Maidan – and especially at the Mohammedan Sporting club grounds where tickets are being sold – is that the very ambience inside Eden Gardens can act as a perfect prelude for the long Holi weekend ahead.
“I am so excited that I can finally catch some live cricket action before the T-20 World Cup at Eden Gardens. It is a perfect start for the extended Holi weekend,” said Swarnali Banerjee, a resident of Jadavpur.
Excited fans have started sharing photographs of them holding the match tickets. Soham Sarkar was one of them. “This might be one of the last seasons for the real KKR icons, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. I hope that besides young guns like Rinku Singh and Shreyas Iyer – who will be back captaining the side – these men shine on the field,” said Sarkar.
Another KKR fan said he had bought four Rs 750 tickets in dozens for all his friends, who are assembling from multiple corners of the state and even beyond it.
Till Friday, tickets of Rs 1,500 were sold at Rs 2,000 by those willing to part with them and price of tickets worth Rs 3,000 went as high as Rs 4,000.
Cops have made arrangements to ensure that there is no betting. “A team of ARS will maintain watch around Eden Gardens even as we expect a full house . We will conduct drives against black marketing across Maidan,” said a joint CP. About 1000 personnel will manage security and traffic in the area.