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Prepare to dig deep into your pockets if you’re planning to witness the India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup match in New York. Comparatively, it would be more cost-effective to opt for a holiday in Barbados to catch a high-profile match like Australia vs England. The premium “Diamond Club” seats for India-Pakistan are priced exorbitantly at $10,000, which translates to approximately Rs 9,00,000 including taxes.
With the same amount of expenditure, you could secure two round-trip tickets from New York to Barbados (approximately Rs 50,000 each), enjoy a four-night stay in a four-star accommodation (approximately Rs 60,000), and acquire two “Club Open Air” tickets ($650 each – approximately Rs 1,08,000) for the Australia vs England clash on June 5.
If you put this all together, holiday for a couple in Barbados and premium seats of marquee fixture will come out to be around Rs 2,70,000. So if you have kids or extended family, there is enough budget left to accommodate them too. Even the next best category in New York is priced at $2,750 and the pricing will be somewhat closer to a couple holiday in Barbados + cricket.
It’s somewhat surprising that tickets for the highly anticipated cricket showdown between India and Pakistan, arguably one of the biggest matches globally, are still on sale. For the June 9 match, premium category tickets are still accessible. CricketNext has been monitoring ticket availability closely, revealing that only the “Pavilion Club” tickets have been sold out, leaving at least three more ticket categories open for purchase. Notably, the organizers have raised the price for VIP parking at Nassau County International Stadium from $200 on May 23 to $250 on May 27.
Regarding other fixtures involving India, organizers have released more tickets. On May 23, “Standard Plus” category tickets for India vs Ireland and India vs USA were unavailable. Initially, eight ticket categories were open for public purchase, but this number has now increased to nine categories for the New York games as of May 27.
Tickets for almost all categories for the India vs Ireland and India vs USA matches are still available, indicating ample availability even for the India vs Canada match in Florida, which has tickets accessible in three categories. With India’s first fixture against the USA just a week away, the persistent availability of tickets underscores a potential misstep in the strategy employed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
As of May 28, numerous sellers are offering India match tickets on social media platforms, while there’s a scarcity of buyers. Unlike past World Cups, there’s minimal activity on premium ticket reselling websites due to the ongoing high availability of tickets on the official website.
Despite the International Cricket Council (ICC) offering a $10,000 India-Pakistan ticket package inclusive of VIP parking, breakfast, pitch-side access, a Q&A session with a cricketing legend, and a private champagne lunch, the global cricketing body has still struggled to attract buyers.
Twenty teams will be in action across USA and West Indies and ICC needs to pull up its socks in the home stretch of the tournament to ensure there aren’t any empty seats on display. For those still thinking about premium seats for India vs Pakistan in New York, think about the beach front family holiday in Barbados.