The India vs Pakistan cricket clash is never a low-octane event, and the match to be played on June 9 in New York, a part of the ICC T20 World Cup, is no different. Notably, while the contest has always been much sought-after in the traditionally cricketing nations, this time, it’s doing the same in a country not known for cricket, even as a US team will participate in the series.
With the group-stage match still three months away, the tickets are already sold out on the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) website. Notably, the match is to be played at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, a pop-up stadium in Long Island, which will also serve as India’s home ground in its matches against Ireland, Pakistan, and the United States. While the tickets for India’s matches against Ireland (June 5) and the USA (June 12) started at $90 (Rs 7,445) on ICC’s website, the same for the India-Pakistan contest started at twice the rate, at $175 (Rs 14,475).
While the tickets are sold out on the ICC’s website, they are available at exorbitant rates on the online ticket reselling platforms. On one such platform—StubHub—the ticket is selling over Rs 34,14,586 for the VIP box, while the lowest price it’s fetching is Rs 1,17,067. Compare this with the India vs Ireland match, whose ticket prices range between Rs 26,599 and Rs 9,37,378, almost 1/4th of the marquee event.
On SeatGeek, another online ticket reselling platform, the tickets are fetching similar rates starting from $1,434, or Rs 1,14,720, at the time of writing this article on March 7.
“We had amazing ticket interest. The ballot process showed there’s a really big demand,” Brett Jones, T20 World Cup USA chief executive, told news agency AFP. “India-Pakistan is obviously a game that at every World Cup carries great interest. I think it’s really pleasing to see those two countries come to the USA,” he said. Notably, New York is home to around 7,11,000 and 1,00,000 people of Indian and Pakistani origin, respectively.
A record 20 teams are set to play in the ninth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, to be played from June 1 to 29 in the United States and West Indies.
The US will also host cricket’s comeback to the Olympics at the Los Angeles 2028 games after an exile of over 120 years. A part of the inclusion can be attributed to the increased popularity of the T20 format, especially with the popularity of leagues, particularly the Indian Premier League, as earlier, the 50-over format was difficult to be accommodated in the Olympics.
