Kolkata: Fans make a beeline for tickets as IPL extravaganza returns to Eden Gardens

KOLKATA: The iconic “Dada akta ticket hobe? (brother, do you have an extra ticket?)” query was back at the Maidan on Sunday as cricket crazy fans from Kolkata and suburbs crowded the road outside Eden Gardens either to get physical copies of their online tickets or asking people around for one extra ticket.
The return of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to Eden Gardens after a gap of three years — with the first qualifier between Gujarat Titans-Rajasthan Royals and first eliminator between Royal Challengers Bangalore-Lucknow SuperGiants — is going to be the biggest sporting event in the city with full capacity spectators allowed in the stands for the first time since the pandemic started.
“After such a long time, cricket is finally returning to our city and I don’t want to miss watching it from the stands. Had KKR qualified for the knockouts, it would have been lovelier, but nonetheless it’s exciting to be back at Eden Gardens to watch cricket,” said Sunny Shaw (22), an engineering student from Garia who was spotted collecting his ticket from Mohammedan sporting ground on Sunday.
Vinay Salwani and his gang had booked online tickets the moment they were up for sale on May 12. “We were confident that RCB would play here and thanks to Virat Kohli’s return to form and Mumbai beating Delhi last night, we will see Kohli in action after a long time,” said Salwani (32), a businessman from Santoshpur.
On Saturday, Eden Gardens suffered large-scale damage in the squall as a glass cover of the press box shattered and a portion of the roof at the High Court end was also damaged.
While BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly himself inspected the ground and the stands after the rain, CAB officials have assured that they are trying their best to get things back in order before the play-offs on Tuesday and Wednesday.
However, even a rain prediction for the play-offs couldn’t dampen the spirits of cricket crazy Kolkatans who crowded the Eden Gardens counters for tickets on Sunday.
“I had tried to book four tickets online but by the time I logged in, all were sold out. So I reached Eden Gardens on Sunday to check if anyone was willing to sell their tickets. Some were black marketing their tickets at thrice the usual rate but finally I managed to find someone who sold me four Rs 850 tickets for Rs 1000 each. I happily bought them,” said Amir Malik, a resident of CIT Road.
Some were however ready to pay any amount for the tickets. “I just want to get back to Eden Gardens and watch Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya in action. I didn’t manage to get tickets on Sunday, but I will return on Monday to try for a couple of tickets,” said Ali Mohammed, a resident of Kidderpore and an avid IPL fan.