Notwithstanding heavy rains and hoping against hope, several cricket enthusiasts on Wednesday waited in long queues in front of the Barabati Stadium here to purchase tickets for Saturday’s ODI cricket match between Australia and India.
Even as the city is witnessing heavy downpour for last three days and more rains in next two days casting doubts whether a single ball would be bowled here on Saturday, diehard enthusiasts arrived here since Tuesday night to stand in the queue for the match tickets.
Although the ticket counters opened half-an-hour later than the scheduled time, more than 12,000 tickets were sold on the day, sources said adding that remaining 4,000 tickets would be sold on Thursday morning.
Having a seating capacity of more than 45,000, only 16, 537 tickets were up for grab for the public from the counters. As many as 4451 tickets were sold online and a little over 12,000 tickets were sold to OCA affiliated units of the State earlier.
On the other hand, the OCA authorities are leaving no stone unturned to keep the Barabati grounds match-fit on Saturday. In an innovative way, the organisers are draining out water from the outfield by digging four wells around the ground.
Similarly, efforts are on to keep the pitch dry by providing a three layer cover. But last night, rain water gushed into the pitch. Workers however, made a valiant effort to remove them by sponge. “If the rains spare us at least for a single day on Friday, we will get ready the ground match-fit on Saturday,” said an OCA official.
Both the teams are expected to arrive at Bhubaneswar on Thursday after their Wednesday’s match at Ranchi. The teams would stay in Bhubaneswar and come here for practice on Friday, sources said.