No tickets for cricket fans at Indore even as High Court dismisses petition alleging irregularities in ticket sale

A number of fans have been unable to purchase tickets for the second ODI to be played at Indore on Wednesday

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking the cancellation of the 2nd ODI between India and South Africa to be played at Indore on Wednesday alleging irregularities over the sale of tickets, IBNLive reports. Meanwhile, the fans in the city were left fuming over the unavailability of tickets at the stipulated counters.

Two local lawyers had filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) demanding the match be "restrained" as “balck-marketing” and “irregualrities” had caused the real cricket loving public to be denied the opportunity to purchase tickets. The petitioners' lawyer Anil Ojha had also argued that the state government had gone out of its way to grant exemption upon the collection of entertainment tax during the match despite the fact that Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) was not a public welfare organisation.

The Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, however, rejected the petition stating that there was no proof to back the claims of irregularities in the sale of tickets. As for the tax exemption, Additional Advocate General Sunil Jain said the government has used its discretionary powers to waive the levy.

Fans miffed by lack of tickets

Most of the cricket fans who turned up at the counters across the various branches of the Bank of India, who were granted the rights to sell the tickets for the match, were in for a huge disappointment as the same was unavailable on Monday.

Senior BJP leader in Madhya Pradesh, Kailash Vijayvargiya, in an attempt to keep the situation in control pleaded with the supporters to wtach the match at their homes as he himself would be doing the same.

"Whenever there has been a cricket match in Indore, I have watched the match at the stadium with BJP workers. This time MPCA has been unable to provide ticket to everyone," Vijayvargiya wrote on his Facebook page. "I am sorry for that. "Even my family will watch the match on TV at home," he added, as reported by IBNLive.

This is not the first instance however issues have developed over the sale of tickets. Earlier on Saturday, Hindustan Times had reported that the Phase I of online sale of tickets had been scuppered as well as the server crashed under the load of heavy traffic.

A series marred by off-field issues

The 2nd T20I at Cuttack was marred by crowd trouble

The 72-day long South Africa tour of India might still be in its infancy but the series has laready been marred by a number of off-field issues that has brought disrepute to the game in India.

The 2nd T20I between the two teams at Cuttack was interrupted twice due to crowd trouble as a section of the public resorted to throwing bottles onto the field of play as the hosts were heading to a defeat.

The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association exhibited the height of administrative negligence as they were yet to book the Green Park Stadium at Kanpur on the eve of the match. Though the match went ahead as planned, it did bring a lot of unwanted attention.

Th third ODI at Rajkot is also under the scanner as reports had emerged last week that Hardik Patel and his supporters could resort to bulk purchase of tickets in an effort to stage a political protest during the course of the match.