The 2nd T20I between India and South Africa is all set to witness packed stands, with all tickets sold out.
The transparent manner in which the tickets were sold has also increased the enthusiasm among the cricket fans, Assam Cricket Association (ACA) secretary Devajit Saikia told PTI on Friday.
"We are expecting a full house. Out of about 38,000 seats, 21,200 were for the general public and the tickets were sold online in two phases. The tickets were sold out in no time," he said. Another 12,000 tickets were made available for the public through the district associations, and those were sold over the counters," he added
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"Usually, 40-50 per cent of tickets sent to the districts return unsold. This time, hardly 100 tickets have come back to us," Saikia said. The rest of the tickets are sent to state associations and some are given as complimentary passes to special guests and invitees, he added. The capacity of the ACA Stadium in Guwahati is 39,500, but 1,500 are "killed seats" as the view of the field is not available from there.
"The fact that the ticket sale was completely transparent ensured that genuine lovers of the game will get an opportunity to watch their favourite players in action. There is unprecedented enthusiasm among them," Saikia claimed.
He said that since the last match hosted at the venue in January 2020 was washed out, the enthusiasm among the people is even more.
Crowd management, security and traffic arrangements are foolproof with all agencies working in coordination, he said.
"The match day is in the middle of Durga Puja and additional arrangements have been made for all aspects," he added. Saikia said a high-scoring match is expected and ACA is ready with additional entertainment for the crowd, besides the one on the field by the players.
"We have a crowd entertainment system in place. DJs will be playing and fireworks will be on display. It will run throughout the match. We are expecting a good game," he said.
India won the 1st T20I by 8 wickets and will look to continue the good work, while South Africa would want to make a strong comeback and level the series heading into the final T20I.
(With PTI Inputs)
