In yet another indication of the huge fan following for cricketing contests between India and Pakistan – two neighbors whose 22-yard clashes have been largely limited by tense diplomatic relations and geopolitical tussles over the years – tickets for their coming encounter in the T20 World Cup has been sold out within hours. The Dubai International Stadium will host the arch rivals on October 24 in what would be a mother of all clashes at the International Cricket Council (ICC) tourney.

Seats in all sections of the state-of-the-art Dubai cricket stadium, including General, General East, Premium, Pavilion East and Platinum, have become unavailable on the Platinumlist website, where tickets for the T20 World Cup are being sold.

As soon as the tickets went live, thousands of fans logged on to the website to book their seats. Many were placed in an online queue with tens of thousands of users ahead of them. The estimated wait time was more than an hour.

Gopal Jasapara, head coach of Dubai’s G Force Cricket Academy, also failed to book tickets for the big clash. “I went to the website immediately after tickets went on sale. I was on the waiting list for a long time and thought I had a chance. But I was wrong,” Jasapara told Khaleej Times.

The premium range of tickets went on sale on Sunday night which was also unavailable by Monday morning when several users took to social media to ask if people were willing to sell their tickets.

Even Jasapara’s WhatsApp account has been flooded with messages from people desperate to get their hands on a ticket.

“Since I have been involved with local cricket in UAE, a lot of people have sent me messages for India-Pakistan match tickets. But I have no special access. I am just as helpless as them,” Jasapara said.

India–Pakistan cricket matches, considered among the most intense sports rivalries in the globe, have been interrupted through the decades following bitter relations stemming from the territorial dispute over the Kashmir region. The two countries have fought three wars, engaged in border skirmishes and accused each other of planning and executing terror acts targeting one another.

Several planned cricket tours by both sides have been called off following political tension and opposition from right-wing groups. Nowadays, the two sides hardly play against each other, with the rare clashes generally limited to multilateral tournaments.

(SAM)