England in Pakistan: Tickets for Tuesday's tie sold out

Karachi, Oct 20: Tickets for the first one-day international to be played here between Pakistan and England on Tuesday became a rare commodity and disappeared as soon as they saw light of day on Friday.

According to sources, the tickets came on sale on selected Allied Bank Limited (ABL) branches in the morning. But within hours, no tickets were available for the most expensive enclosures like Fazal Mahmood, Javed Miandad and Hanif Mohammad which cost Rs1,200. The enclosures have a joint capacity of 3,069 seats.

"There is no ticket available," a bank source said, adding: "Tickets for cheaper enclosures are available but that too only 30%."

Tickets for Imran Khan and Wasim Akram enclosures, which can accommodate 3,280 spectators, is Rs800; ticket for Asif Iqbal Stand is Rs600 and followed up by Waqar Hasan Enclosure Rs400, Zaheer Abbas Enclosure Rs200, Majid Khan, Intikhab Alam, Nasimul Ghani, Iqbal Qasim, Mohammad Brothers and Wasim Bari Rs30.

Unlike in the past, the ticket-buyers were allowed to buy as many tickets as they wanted. The previous cricket board setups had restricted the purchase of tickets per individual to curb black marketing which unfortunately is expected to be on its peak on the match afternoon.

"One individual bought VIP enclosure tickets for Rs120,000," a visibly stunned bank employee said.

Desperate cricket fanatics were still running round the circle in hope that they would get one at least one ticket for the match to remember that he was a witness to the first international here under lights.

With the 34,034-seat National Stadium set to be a packed-to-capacity on Tuesday, the PCB are all set to earn approximately Rs8.1 million alone through gate.