On mega IPL match eve, ticket prices soar further

Hyderabad: On the eve of the much-awaited SRH-CSK clash in the city, tickets continued to be sold at astronomical rates in the black market — three to four times the original price. The asking price even for the topmost floor stand, which costs not more than 1,500 was as high as 6,000 to 7,000.
Other prime category tickets like east stand ground floor which were once going for 8,000 as against a MRP of 4,500 had gone up to 10,000 to 12,000 on Thursday.
At least 10 to 15 posts were found floating on social media platforms like X and Instagram, hoping to cash in on the last minute frenzy among cricket buffs, especially Dhoni fans given it could be the thala’s last game on Hyderabad soil. One of the accounts that TOI interacted with was selling four tickets to the south west first terrace, originally priced at 750 to 1,750 for 6,000. The same seat in the north stand was up for grabs for as much as 4,000 to 7,000.
Amid the rush of buyers, many even wondered why people were shelling out such exorbitant amounts for seats that are extremely high up in the stadium, offering little visibility of the field. “Why would people pay 7,000 when they can’t even distinguish between players from that height,” commented a fan on a post selling tickets on Instagram.
The social media platform had several pages engaging exclusively in reselling. The ‘business model’: The page allows one to sell their tickets to the page at a profit margin and then the page goes on to resell it at a higher price to others. Some resellers were also offering deferred payment options to fans buying tickets in black.