Over 70 per cent tickets sold out for India-West Indies match in Vizag

Visakhapatnam: Excitement is building up among cricket buffs in Visakhapatnam, as the second ODI between India and West Indies in the city on December 18 gets closer. Thanks to the hype, over 70 per cent of the tickets for the match to be played under floodlight are sold out.

Vizagites will get a chance to watch the match at Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium after a gap of one year. In October 2018, India played an ODI against West Indies in the city. India will be clashing with West Indies for the fourth time in the city. Both teams have a win each and one draw.

Preparations are underway in Vizag, whose seating capacity is 28,000, for the ODI on December 18. The online sale of tickets commenced a few days back while the sale of offline tickets commenced on Friday. The tickets are priced in denominations of Rs 500, Rs 1,200, Rs 1,600, Rs 2,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000. Most of the low denomination tickets sold out like hotcakes said members of the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA), and 60 per cent of high denomination tickets sold out.

Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA stadium:

+ 24th Test venue in India
+ Third in Andhra
+ 111th Test venue overall#INDvENG

— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) November 17, 2016

India will clash with West Indies for the first ODI in the series in Chennai on December 15. Both teams will arrive in Vizag on December 16, and practice session will be on December 17. India had played eight ODIs in Vizag and won six of them.

“We tried to get ten Rs 500 tickets for the match to enjoy with our friends. However, we managed to get only four,” said N Dheerej, a cricket buff and resident of Madhurawada in the city.

Expressing that Vizag is a happy hunting ground for team India, L Ravi Teja said that the ODI in Vizag would be a run-feast to spectators. Team India would continue its winning track in Vizag, he added.

City Police Chief RK Meena, along with his team, visited Vizag stadium to review the security arrangements. City police would be imposing specific traffic restriction on the NH-16 stretch because of the match on December 18.