Mohali, Mar 27: Kuldip Singh has been waiting outside the ticket office of the PCA Stadium for three days straight, ever since his beloved India team beat Australia to set up a World Cup semifinal against Pakistan.
Singh, like thousands of other fans, is desperate to get his hands on a ticket for what the local media is dubbing the Clash of the Titans, or simply 'the final.'
"My budget is 2,500 rupees ($55) for a ticket," the 19-year-old student said. "I have been coming here for the past three days in the hope of getting tickets. Even one ticket will do for me."
Singh lives locally in Chandigarh. Beside him was Narinder Singh, a 35-year-old sales and marketing executive who has traveled 150 kilometers on the off chance that tickets might suddenly and miraculously become available.
But the Punjab Cricket Association has maintained for days that the match between the two fierce rivals is sold out.
"I know that tickets are sold out," Singh said. "It is only in the hope that someone who has tickets will come by here."
He says he will pay up to 5,000 rupees ($110) for a ticket -- nearly three times the average monthly wage in India.
India hasn't won the World Cup since 1983 and Kapil Dev, captain of that team which upset the great West Indies lineup in the final at Lord's, is still feted wherever he goes in India.
On auction website ebay, the latest bidding price for a set of five tickets was 93,250 rupees ($2087) with another 19 hours remaining until the bidding closes.
And there are reports of a rampant black market, with 500 rupee tickets now fetching up to 20 times that. Black market dealing is illegal, but the Punjab Cricket Association admits it is helpless to prevent it happening.
"We cannot do anything directly in the case of black-marketing," PCA joint secretary GS Walia was quoted as saying.
"People came, stood in queues and bought tickets. Now if they sell them to anybody else in (the) black (market), how can we keep a track? It is not under our control."
Police arrested one man on Sunday for trying to sell a 250 rupee ticket at 25,000 rupees, but with a match on this scale, the authorities appear to be fighting a losing battle.
"It is a problem and many cricket lovers will suffer due to this," Mohali district police chief Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said. "We will try our level best to check black-marketing of tickets."
It is only possible to imagine how many times over the cozy 28,000-capacity PCA Stadium could be sold out. The ground will also play host to the prime ministers of the respective countries and a clutch of dignitaries, celebrities and VIPs.
It is not possible to have a conversation in Mohali without the vexed subject of tickets for the big match being brought up at some stage. Desperate fans are willing to go to any lengths to source what has become Mohali's golden ticket.
The fact the match has been sold out has been at the top of the hourly TV news bulletins since Saturday, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that tickets are hard to get.
"Any cost, no problem," is the regular refrain.
Those that can't afford to delve into the black market are left waiting outside the ticket office where around 30 people persisted on gathering Sunday.
Down the road, another 150 people waited patiently for the arrival of the India team to arrive for their first training session at the PCA Stadium.
The bus carrying the players stopped briefly as it tried to make a tight turn through the gate, allowing the fans a glimpse of the superstars inside.
With tickets proving impossible to come by, it might be the closest they get to the team they hope will end India's long wait for the World Cup trophy. AP
