Forget Hotcakes—India-Pakistan match tickets define ‘Selling Out'

By K.R. Nayar

Dubai. It’s time to replace the idiom "sold like hotcakes" with "sold like India-Pakistan match tickets." The ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 India matches in Dubai are highly anticipated by the fans in this country. On Monday morning at 10:37 AM, I received an email from the ICC stating that tickets for the three group-stage India matches and Semi-Final 1—all taking place in Dubai, UAE—would be available for purchase online from 4 PM (GST).


Many cricket enthusiasts in the UAE, who regularly follow my blog, informed me that the India-Pakistan match tickets were sold out in a flash. An ardent cricket fan told me he was 118,000th in the queue, and within minutes, he received the disappointing news that his hopes of securing a ticket had vanished with all tickets sold out. General stand ticket prices at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium for the three group-stage India matches and Semi-Final 1 start at Dh 125.


Very often, it is not the UAE residents who manage to secure the India-Pakistan match tickets. There are fans across the world who never miss this historic rivalry. How they manage to get tickets within minutes before they are sold out remains a mystery. However, while covering the India-Pakistan ICC T20 World Cup match in the US, I noticed that most ticket holders were local residents, although a significant number of fans had traveled from Canada.

In the early days of cricket in the UAE when I used to report India-Pakistan matches in Sharjah, the crowd primarily consisted of expatriates residing in the UAE. Very few fans traveled from their home countries to watch the game. Online ticket purchases came much later, enabling cricket lovers from any part of the world to secure tickets and attend the match. In those days, fans would line up at ticket counters to buy them in person.

Shahid Afridi 

I recall how some of Pathan taxi drivers would listen to the radio to check who was batting first. If Pakistan was at the crease, they would park their cars and rush into the stadium to watch Shahid Afridi bat. As soon as Afridi got out, they would leave and get back to work.

No matter where it is played, an India-Pakistan match is always a spectacle. However, when these two cricketing giants face off in the UAE, the atmosphere is even more special. Equal numbers of Indian and Pakistani fans fill the stands, and the matches never fail to deliver top-class cricketing action.

Earlier, fans used to proudly proclaim that they had watched an India-Pakistan match from a stadium. Today there is an addition; they say they managed to get an India-Pakistan match ticket and watched it live from the ground. Hot cakes may seem easier to get but not an India-Pakistan cricket match ticket.

 

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