India vs SA: Black marketers have field day as ticket sale scandal occurs in Cuttack T20I - Reports

India and South Africa played the second T20I, of the five-match series, on Sunday evening (June 12) at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack. The venue hosted an international game after a long gap of 2.5 years as it was a jam-packed stadium that saw the Men in Blue go down to the Proteas by four wickets in a moderate-scoring affair.

However, a controversy erupted following the conclusion of the match. It has been brought to noticethat the ticket sale scandal broke out for the Cuttack T20I.According to a report by the New Indian Express, the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) had allotted as many as 29,154 seats -- out of the 44,234-- in the stadium for the second T20I. Out of 29,154, around 8,000 seats were kept for affiliated units/office bearers/BCCI affiliated units. On the other hand, the remaining ones were to be divided between online and offline channel sales for the cricket fans.

Approximately, around 12,093 tickets were available to be purchased on spotvianine designated counters whereasthe leftover 9,061werefor solely fans, who could buy the ticketsonline. The offline tickets were sold outon the opening dayitself. Thus, many black marketers broke in and bought tickets at large viaonline portals as well as off the counters (resorting to brokers and people from the labour class).

After the bulk purchase, the black marketersthen sold the passes through websites and social media platforms -- usingWhatsApp and other mediums, atmuch higher rates. For the unversed, according to the rules, one single person could've only bought two tickets. However, many ended up getting over 10 tickets from the site. Moreover, the black marketers also got hold ofcomplimentary passes.

The price of tickets for the second T20I match between India and the Proteaswas Rs 900 each for galleries 1, 3 and 5. The cost for gallery 2 was Rs 700 whereas it was ten times the costfor gallery 4 (Rs 7000). Nonetheless, the black marketers had a field day as theysoldgallery No.2 tickets for Rs 5000 (for more than Rs 4,000),gallery No. 3 tickets for over Rs 5000 and gallery No.4 ticketswent for Rs 15000 (more than double the original price), as per sources.