Cricket World Cup: Where fandom comes with a ‘hefty price tag’!

If I ask you, how far are you willing to go in the name of purest love? Especially when your devotion is immersed in the world of cricket.

Days after the world's gaze has descended on India for the ICC World Cup 2023, a few are caught in the tightening grip of a cricket frenzy to an extent that the fine line between fandom and fanaticism has begun to wear thin. Among those straddling the line is Saurabh Patil (name changed), a 37-year-old physician from Marol in Mumbai's Andheri, who has mortgaged his wife's wedding jewellery to pay for an India vs Pakistan group stage match ticket.

In cricket-driven India, where love for the sport transcends nearly everything, watching favourite superstars play has become inaccessible to most as ticket prices hit the roof. For Patil, whose monthly wage is Rs 35,000, mortgaging wife's jewellery was a daunting prospect initially but financial constraints ultimately proved secondary to his love for cricket.

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"Of course, I had second thoughts about this. I was scared to ask my wife. I have never been to a World Cup match before, there have always been financial troubles. Ticket prices are so high that you can't imagine visiting the stadium. Most of my friends are going with their families, toh maine iss baar thaan le liya (I made up my mind this time). I will take my wife along, she was a little hesitant earlier, but agreed eventually," a visibly enthusiastic Patil told Mid-Day.

Patil sunk Rs 6 lakh overall, including round-trip airfare, a two-night hotel stay and two tickets to the October 14 game at the iconic Motera stadium. He bought the tickets in September for about Rs 5,40,000 off a secondary ticketing platform, after the official one (BookMyShow) showed that seats were sold out.

The staggering prices of final match tickets is another opportunity for ticket sellers on resale platforms attempting to skim a fat profit on demand for the World Cup. This is indicative of the palpable excitement in the air over the showdown between the two neighbours in the ongoing tournament, with India playing the hosts again to the Babar Azam-led side after a gap of 12 years. In fact, Saturday will be the first time in seven years that Pakistan plays on Indian turf.

"For the common man, it is nearly impossible (to buy tickets at an affordable rate). My husband is an ardent fan of cricket, he had been planning to visit the stadium since last year, even before we got married. As his wife, this is something that I did out of love. I have never been to a stadium in my life. We are both excited to watch the match live on Saturday," said Patil's wife.

Like the Patils, fans have been required to dig deeper into their pockets to match their high expectations at the 50-over cricket extravaganza. As has become the norm at true global sporting events such as the Cricket World Cup, ticket prices are eye-wateringly high, and even more so if Pakistan, England, or Australia are your teams. These teams have been put in the highest ticket price bracket alongside hosts India for the group stage of the event, with the tickets selling for ten times what it costs to attend the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) knockouts.

The sky-high prices have added to broader complaints about the ticketing process for the World Cup, and the early optics from the tournament are not at all helping matters here. While some were fortunate to purchase tickets, thousands more were stuck on hold, watching the non-refreshing website of BooMyShow throughout the day due to the failure of its online systems. The result? A long, anxious wait for many to know whether they will be able to attend the World Cup. Hundreds joined in on X, formerly known as Twitter, with messages including "very disappointing", ‘what a shame, BCCI', and declaring the failure ‘a debacle'.

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Oddly enough, tickets for India vs Afghanistan on Wednesday went on sale 24 hours before the contest, just as seats for India's tournament opener were made available in a last-minute sale on the same morning. BookMyShow, meanwhile, still says that tickets for the remaining India matches that haven't yet gone on sale are ‘coming soon'.

However, the soaring ticket prices are only a small quotient of the overall cost of attending a World Cup match, with airfares, internal transport, hotel accommodation and dining out also adding significantly to one's bottom line. These costs have also been hiked up markedly for the tournament, in line with common practice around the world for global events. Yet, come what may, it does little to dim the enthusiasm of a cricket loyalist.

Online travel and holiday booking portal MakeMyTrip is witnessing an increased number of travel bookings to cities like Ahmedabad and Chennai where key fixtures are scheduled to be held. Hotels in lesser-known venues are also experiencing an extremely tight squeeze. "On India match days, fares have shot up on average by 150% for select hotels and 80% for select flights compared with the prior week," read a report by Jefferies.

"We checked hotel/flight rates across the venues for matches featuring India and found average rates for the match days up by 150 per cent/80 per cent for select hotels/flights compared to the week prior to match day with some rates up to the extent of 13x/5x. For non-India match days, fares escalation is lower vs normal days," the report stated further.