The craziness called Pakistan/India series.

Entertainment Cricket and Other Sports
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Frustrated fans throng stadium for Pakistan, India one-day game](Yahoo is part of the Yahoo family of brands.)

KARACHI (AFP) - Frustrated fans thronged Karachi stadium for the first limited overs international match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan only to be told the sales had been delayed by a day.

“The ticket sale for the first one-day will start from Sunday and electronic tickets have been arranged, so that only genuine ticket holders enter the stadium,” said a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) statement on Saturday.

Officials refused to disclose the reason for the delay as it was earlier announced tickets for each match would go on sale a week before the match.

India arrives in Lahore on Wednesday on their first full tour of Pakistan since 1989-90 and plays the first of five one-day games in Karachi on March 13.

PCB put 20 percent of tickets on sale via the Internet, a first for a sports event in Pakistan, and them snapped up within three days.

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India permits Pakistan to open temporary visa office](Yahoo is part of the Yahoo family of brands.)

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India has given Islamabad the nod to set up a temporary office to speed up the issue of visas to Indian cricket fans eager to visit Pakistan for the forthcoming series, an official said.

“Today we have conveyed to Pakistan our approval for holding a visa camp in (the northern city of) Amritsar to facilitate the visit to Pakistan of people from that region,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told AFP.

The only land route open between the two countries is through the Wagah transit point near Amritsar.

Sarna said the temporary visa office would open for four days beginning March 17 for the tour, which is scheduled to start March 13 and end on April 18.

Hundreds of Indian fans are besieging the Pakistani high commission (embassy) in New Delhi for the travel papers.

Pakistan has already prepared 8,000 visas, saying they will be given to people holding bona fide tickets, but reports say even more Indians have bought tickets for the series.

The tour, the first in Pakistan between the two countries for 15 years, was threatened with cancellation last month when the Indian home ministry reportedly expressed concern over the security of its players.

The governments of both countries have now agreed that four Indian security liaison officers will accompany the team to oversee security.

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Hotels overbooked as Lahore set to welcome Indian cricketers](Yahoo is part of the Yahoo family of brands.)

LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) - A commercial bonanza is in the offing in Lahore as Pakistan’s second largest city prepares to host Indian cricketers next week for the first time in 15 years.

All hotels have already been fully booked while roadside eateries and restaurants known for traditional dishes are undergoing a facelift while shopkeepers are planning special lighting in main bazaars, officials said.

Even the taxi drivers are upbeat as the big event draws closer.

Led by captain Sourav Ganguly, a 15-member Indian team is due here on March 10 for a much-awaited cricket encounter between the foes now treading a peace path.

The Indians will play a practice game in Lahore before flying to Karachi to play the first of the five one-day matches on March 13.

But Lahore, known as Pakistan’s cultural capital will host two day and night matches on March 21 and 23 as well as a Test match later.

“From the posh five-star to the middle class, all hotels have been sold out in Lahore,” travel agent Irfan Ahmed said.

“The cricket enthusiasm will surpass the usual boisterous annual kite flying festival of Basant when the city of eight million goes berserk with joy,” general manager of a four-star hotel, Nadeem Qadir, told AFP.

He said his hotel was booked to capacity starting from March 15 until late April because of the cricket matches.

Lahore’s three international-standard hotels have a capacity of around 1,000 rooms.

Most of the 8,000 Indian fans will be arriving here through the nearby Wagah border, the only land crossing between the two counties, while thousands of others are expected to fly into the city from different countries.

“If you are calling for a booking, we are sorry we have no room until April 25,” said the Pearl Continental hotel’s deputy general manager, Haseeb Gardezi.

“This is an event which will attract a lot of people from across the world and hotels will benefit from the rush,” said Gardezi whose hotel will host the Indian team. He said security would be stringent for the Indian guests.

The city’s posh and popular hotels are charging up to 20,000 rupees (330 dollars) a day from the usual 100 to 120 dollars. Smaller hotels have also increased their room rents from 30 dollars to 150 dollars a day.

“This is the time to make most profits and enjoy the kind of income that we are going to generate in the next four weeks,” said Mohammad Arif, owner of a 25-room hotel in the city’s fashionable Upper Mall neighbourhood.

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Karachi Police Blackmarketing ODI tickets :mad2:

..To make matters worse some people caught hold of a few policemen around the stadium blackmarketing the general enclosure tickets while some opportunists seeing the large number of cars and bikes around the stadium started charging parking fees with the help of the policemen.

PCB’s blunders cause mayhem at NSK as police, fans clash
By Waheed Khan

KARACHI: It was a disaster that was waiting to happen given the relaxed attitude of the Pakistan Cricket Board officials, members of the provincial government and administration towards the organization of the first One-day International between Pakistan and India in Karachi and also because of their refusal to involve the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) in organizational matters.

And it happened on Sunday as for three hours the thousands of Karachites who thronged the National Stadium in the hope of buying the elusive tickets for the match on March 13, returned empty handed.

What should have been a simple exercise if it had been well organized and well thought out, turned into a disaster as ticket seekers clashed with the police, stadium property was damaged and all hell broke loose. The irate fans broke into a stadium enclosure and the multinational teams playing a friendly match on the outer ground of the stadium had to run to save their skin.

The end result; the Pakistan board and the company given the task of selling tickets for the series were forced to suspend sale of tickets and the situation saw the General manager Cricket Operations PCB, Zakir Khan rushing down to Karachi to attend a meeeting arranged on war-footing at the Governor House to sort out the future course of action.

Many in the media and outside made it a business and habit to roundly criticize the former chairman of the board, Lt (retd) General Tauqir Zia on every issue during his four-year tenure.

But one thing is for sure, Tauqir was a quick learner and after some organizational problems in the 2000 series against England he learnt the art of how matches can be smoothly organized in Pakistan.

Unfortunately, with him gone now the new Chairman of the Board Shaharyar Khan has a lot to learn and while he was flying into Auckland on Sunday morning for an International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting he would have been unaware of the disastrous situation at the National Stadium.

The board, the company and the organizing committee selling the tickets should have realized well in advance that given the unprecedented interest in the coming series there would be a mad rush for the tickets, specially after the incident that occurred on Saturday morning at the stadium when hundreds of irate ticket seekers clashed with the police after learning the tickets were not on sale. It was a similar situation on Sunday because it was obvious that the three booths opened inside the stadium were never going to be enough to cater to the thousands who had started converging on the stadium since early morning to buy tickets, Sunday being a weekly holiday.

While a few thousand were lucky enough to get inside the stadium and line up near the booths, thousands waited impatiently outside to get their chance but the problems started when some mischievous elements spread the rumors that the board was taking them for a ride and all the tickets had been sold out.

These rumors were given credence when the booths opened and closed and even the people inside the stadium waited in the sweltering heat for hours to get their tickets.

By this time the police had started baton charging hundreds of the indisciplined youth who were scaling the walls to get into the stadium and near the booths.

To make matters worse some people caught hold of a few policemen around the stadium blackmarketing the general enclosure tickets while some opportunists seeing the large number of cars and bikes around the stadium started charging parking fees with the help of the policemen.

All this added to the increasing tense atmosphere and by 12.30pm scuffles were taking place and the board was forced to announce suspension of sale of tickets for the match until Monday, - perhaps a wise decision given the prevailing circumstances.

But all that happened only forced one to wonder just what had made the Board, provincial administration officials so cocky that they believed they could manage to sell over 20,000 tickets through just three booths and without the help of the local association?

Why couldn’t the old system of selling tickets through various bank branches and through booths at the stadium have been followed so that atleast there would not have been a concentration of thousands at just one place.

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^^ It happens everytime iN Karachi…
Policemen are so corrupted :smack:, They will try an make a fortune anywhere they want.l

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Black market of tickets by Police alleged :smiley:
By Our Sports Reporter, Dawn

KARACHI, March 7: **Eye-witnesses claimed that some tickets of the first One-day International at the National Stadium Karachi (NSK) were sold in black market by police. **

When DCO Karachi, Mir Hussain Ali, was asked to elaborate on it by reporters, he vehemently denied that such was the case. But **a number of fans alleged that police had black marketed tickets in the denomination of Rs100.

“I saw a policeman selling Rs100 tickets for as much as Rs500,” one fan alleged. Another added: “Some of the policemen managed to get hold of tickets by making requests that their high command had asked for the tickets for the match.” **

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Leading newpapaer co. of india...The Times of India has dubbed the series as PAKRAMAN...such is the craze!!

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http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/040309/3/23sy.html

http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/040309/3/23qv.html