Everybody wants to make money in the Indian Premier League (IPL). While some people were arrested black marketing tickets of the Delhi Capitals’ home game at exorbitant prices, the Sunrisers Hyderabad decided to go the dynamic pricing way to attain those exorbitant prices. All plain and legal.
Tickets, which were priced at Rs 900 for normal IPL 2026 games, were suddenly being asked for Rs 1500. Those marked for Rs 1500 had to be bought at Rs 3000 and similarly, corporate boxes marked for Rs 30,000 asked Rs 45000 for one particular game. And all this was being done legally by the franchise official ticket booking app District by Zomato and yet more than 2,16,000 people in queue for those tickets didn’t receive it.
Why the sudden hike in ticket prices for one game
The game is none other than SRH vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad. The match is scheduled for May 22.
Pat Cummins’ SRH and the defending champions RCB are locked in a cutthroat battle to secure a top-two finish in the playoffs race.
Compounding the demand is the “Virat Kohli Factor”—with Kohli now retired from Test and T20 internationals, opportunities for fans to watch him live in action are at an absolute premium.
The SRH management took full corporate advantage of this desperation.
The price hikes across categories paint a bleak picture for the average match-going middle-class fan:
| Seating Category | Regular Season Price | SRH vs RCB Price | Percentage Hike |
| Cheapest Upper-Tier Stands | Rs 900 | Rs 2,000 | 110% |
| South First Terrace | Rs 1,500 | Rs 3,000 | 100% |
| Mid-Tier General Stands | Rs 1,910 | Rs 3,500 | 83% |
| Premium General Stands | Rs 2,500 | Rs 4,500 | 80% |
| Corporate Hospitality Boxes | Rs 30,000 | Rs 45,000 | 50% |
Fans are paying for the GST increase?
The ongoing ticket mess isn’t just driven by greedy franchises utilizing unannounced dynamic pricing algorithms; it is also a direct byproduct of a severe legislative change.
Ahead of the current cycle, the central government placed the Indian Premier League in the highest possible GST category (40%), matching the tax slab applied to casinos and horse racing tracks (up from the previous 28%). Consequently, platforms like BookMyShow and Zomato District are legally forced to pass this tax burden onto consumers, adding an extra 10% to 20% in processing fees and convenience taxes at checkout.
When a franchise willfully doubles the base price of a ticket, the compounded 40% GST and platform convenience fees create an inflated nightmare. A basic Rs 900 seat quickly turns into a total expense of nearly Rs 2,500 at payment gateways.
The Black Market Boom: A Broken System
Because genuine local supporters are priced out or trapped behind broken digital queues, automated scalping bots have swooped in. Within hours of the official sell-out notice, the black market on platforms like Reddit, Telegram, and specialized secondary ticket sites exploded.
Tickets for the Rs 2,000 Upper Stands are actively being resold for Rs 7,500 to Rs 9,000, while the Rs 45,000 corporate hospitality passes are commanding astronomical figures up to Rs 1.2 Lakh.
Not an Isolated Incident: A Trend of Exploitation
The corporate greed witnessed in Hyderabad has become a standard blueprint across multiple IPL venues, turning a stadium visit into a luxury experience rather than a community sport.
The M. Chinnaswamy Extortion (Bengaluru): RCB’s home venue has long been notorious for weaponizing dynamic pricing. During marquee home fixtures against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) or Mumbai Indians (MI), basic Rs 2,300 stands are routinely bumped past the Rs 5,500 mark. Meanwhile, their premium corporate experiences (like the Rahul Dravid Platinum Lounge) skyrocket from a base of Rs 4,000 to an eye-watering Rs 42,000 closer to match day.
The Wankhede Squeeze (Mumbai): Mumbai Indians’ home ground routinely scales its entry-level tickets from Rs 900 to an inflated Rs 2,500 for El Clásico fixtures against CSK, forcing local college students and working-class fans completely out of the equation.