By IANS
New Delhi : In a bid to attract spectators to five-day matches, the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) has decided to keep ticket prices low for the first India-Pakistan Test starting Nov 22.
“We want the common man to come to the stadium to watch the Test. Nowadays tickets are priced too high but we will walk the other way,” DDCA president Arun Jaitley said Friday on the sidelines of the practice match between Delhi and Pakistan at Ferozeshah Kotla.
“The trend now is that organisers make money from sponsors, so we will keep the price low so that more people can come in. We want people to pack the stadium on all the five days of the Test,” he added.
The former law minister added that daily tickets would cost Rs.40, Rs.60, Rs.80, Rs.120 and Rs.250.
“The Rs.40 and Rs.60 tickets are for students and former players,” said Jaitley.
Season tickets will cost Rs.200, Rs.400, Rs.800 and Rs.1,200 for different sections of the newly-renovated stadium while the tickets for the corporate box have been priced at Rs.7,500.
The DDCA chief said proper arrangements would be in place to avoid any crowd trouble during the Test between the neighbours and archrivals.
“There will be enough security personnel at the ground to control crowd behaviour. We can’t blame the whole crowd for racist comments. It is only one person out of the 50,000-odd spectators who makes such remarks.
“It is good that the Indian cricket board is handling this issue in a tough way and the best thing is to ban the spectator from the ground,” said the Bharatiya Janata Party leader.
The recently concluded one-day series between India and Australia was marred by racist comments and gestures against Andrew Symonds.
Jaitley added the floodlights would be installed at Ferozeshah Kotla after the India-Pakistan Test match.
The inaugural Indian Players League (IPL) of BCCI will be the first tournament to be played under lights at the ground.