India is gearing up to host one of the most highly-anticipated sporting events of the year - the ICC Cricket World Cup starting October 5 in Ahmedabad and is set to run till Sunday, November 19. There is an ICC event every year, whether it's the T20 World Cup, the World Test Championship final or the Champions Trophy, which is set to be resumed in 2025. However, the charm and the excitement around the Cricket World Cup is something else because of mainly two important reasons - one since it's played in a round-robin format, it's a World Cup in the real sense as every team plays each other at least once and second since it's a 50-over game, it tests the players' physical, mental and skill level fitness.
The tougher the grind, the sweeter the fruit!
ICC launched the official theme song 'Dil Jashn Bole' a couple of weeks ahead of the tournament. Most of the tickets have been sold, but not before the issues the people had to face while booking through the BookMyShow app. But in the second phase, when the BCCI released 4 Lakh tickets, it allowed more people to get their hands on tickets for the tournament.
However, from September 5 onwards, the BCCI has been presenting a 'golden ticket' to a few selected individuals. It started with one of the greatest actors in Hindi Cinema, Amitabh Bachchan, then to Sachin Tendulkar and the recent one being Rajinikanth, the superstar of Indian cinema.
The golden ticket as the BCCI described is being awarded to some of the greatest individuals of the nation as part of the "Golden Ticket for India Icons" programme. The ticket will allow the holders to attend all the matches of the Cricket World Cup from ground zero. Obviously, they may not attend all the games, but the ticket contains a special status and if the guest list so far is anything to go by, then it surely is worth it.
Recently, Indian cricket great Sunil Gavaskar hailed BCCI's initiative and shared his wishlist of special individuals who should get the golden ticket. Gavaskar's wishlist included the two World Cup-winning captains Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni. Apart from those two, ISRO chief S Somnath, Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, table tennis legend Sharath Kamal and tennis star Rohan Bopanna also found their names in the list.
India haven't hosted a sporting event like this for a decade now. Even though the timing of the release of the schedule and the opening of tickets could have been a bit earlier and the changes later didn't help either, the BCCI is leaving no stone unturned to make this event a grand success.
