PANJIM: The World Cup adventure commenced on a sour note for Indian fans, especially those looking forward to buying tickets online. The first batch of tickets for India’s matches at the ICC Cricket World cup 2023 went live on August 29 and it left an unpleasant taste in the mouth of fans interested in watching their team live.
The run up had been far from ideal with an unexpected delay in the announcement of the tournament schedule which messed up with the travel plans of fans. The tickets went live at 6 pm Indian time on BookMyShow, ICC’s ticketing partner for the World Cup.
To handle the large volume, the website had set up a virtual queue system where people would be granted access to the booking portal on a first-come-first-serve basis. Things, however, didn’t go to plan.
Chaos ensued for a couple of hours as fans logged on in anticipation and were met with nothing but disappointment in the form of seemingly never-ending virtual waiting queues and system crashes on the ticketing platform.
The response on the digital media was immediate and brutal. Kartik Kannan on X, formerly Twitter, wrote, “The ICC cricket World Cup ticket booking process Om Bookmyshow is like riding a scooter on a four-lane highway.”
Another frustrated user on X, Richard Stevens wrote, “ICC World Cup India 2023, the ticket allocation system is an absolute joke. Waited in the queue patiently, only to find out that it had sold out when I eventually got on.”
There were innumerable other similar experiences from fans around the country and beyond. The common sentiment was of frustration towards BCCI and ICC for not being able to create better arrangements for an event that is supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport.
“Ticket sale for matches other than India started at 8PM. It's 8:08 PM now - BookMyShow app is crashed. Wondering what will happen when tickets for India's game will go up on sale,” wrote Nilesh G.
“This is the level of preparedness @bookmyshow has for a World Cup! Sorry @ICC but it seems like your ticketing partners are just not up to the task,” wrote another X user Arka Dyuti Palit.
A month before the start of the most anticipated tournament in the sport, this is not how the biggest stakeholders of the game should be feeling.