Cuttack, Jan 16: The countdown for the much-awaited one day international (ODI) day and night match between India and England scheduled at Barabati Stadium in the Millennium city on Jan 19 has already begun with the sale of tickets. Talking to media persons, Prasant Kumar Tripathy, Assistant General Manager (AGM), State Bank of India (SBI) said tickets would be sold to the affiliated clubs and associate members of Odisha Cricket Association (OCA), educational institutions and sponsors of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for two days till Jan 15 in which a total of 10,362 tickets would be sold at the OCA Conference Hall. For cashless transaction, 14 card swipe machines have been put up. Apart from this, tickets would also be sold through drafts, debit cards and credit cards. What has been observed here is that the people are very happy to purchase tickets through cashless transaction. However, the sale of tickets began after a delay of nearly six hours. Asked about the delay, Tripathy said as per the Lodha Committee recommendations and the directive of the Supreme Court, OCA secretary Asirbad Behera had to resign from his post. Since the signature of Behera was on the tickets, it took time to delete his name and replace with the signature of the chief executive officer (CEO) of OCA, Bidyut Kumar Nayak. After this formality was completed, the sale of tickets began. Besides, police also verified the tickets before they were sold which also took some time. Talking about the number of seats OCA has provisions for the ensuing ODI, the SBI official said considering the security aspects, the number of seats in Barabati Stadium this year has been reduced from 46,000 to 43,000. Out of 43,000 seats, 11,500 are complementary passes while 8300 tickets have already been sold online. From the remaining seats which are roughly about 23,000, 10,362 tickets would be sold to the OCA affiliated bodies and BCCI sponsors. The rest 12,000 tickets would be sold to the public on Jan 16 and 17 at the three counters of Barabati Stadium. Tadit Kumar Rout, secretary, Sunrise Club, said the cashless transaction for all OCA affiliated units is going on smoothly and the quota has been purchased through bank drafts.
