India vs New Zealand: International cricket returns to Eden Gardens after 2 years but fans cry over ticket crisis

As Eden Gardens is set to host its first international game after two years, India is set to play New Zealand in the third and final T20I of the bilateral series in Kolkata. This will be the biggest sporting event in the city, with spectators back in the stands for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic started.

Since March 2020, the ‘City of Joy’ has witnessed only one sporting event with spectators in attendance when the Durand Cup final was played between Mohammedan SC and FC Goa in October.

The last time a cricket match was played with spectators at Eden was back in November 2019 when India played Bangladesh in their first-ever pink ball day-night Test on Indian soil.

However, as Bengal government has asked for usage of 70 percent of the total seating capacity, there has been a crisis of meeting the demands. The entire process has turned online from offline and people who have booked their tickets will receive their copies at the stadium.

Waiting outside the ticket counters, many were disappointed. Ganesh, who came from Howrah, stated that he was eager to get tickets but could not get them online.

“What happens to the ones who don’t have the app to book tickets? Does it mean that 70 thousand people know how to book online tickets? They should have kept some offline ticket counters like before,” said Ganesh.

Another young cricket enthusiast, Farhad spoke on similar lines. He, too, was waiting to figure out how to get tickets at the stadium.

“Since my childhood, I have bought tickets from kiosks at Eden. Suddenly all online but nothing is available online. We will watch it at home,” said Farhad.

Eden Gardens, which once had a seating capacity of 1.50 lakhs, was restructured during the 2011 World Cup and individual seats were put up.

The Bengal government has allowed 70% spectator attendance at the ground considering the pandemic. The total capacity of Eden is 68,000. If operated on a 70% capacity range, there is space for 47,600.