Fake tickets fail to fool authorities

More than 1500 spectators who were duped into buying fake tickets for the fourth one-day international between Pakistan and India at Lahore were turned away from the Gaddafi Stadium at the weekend, according to Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

"We caught them at various entrance gates," Shaharyar told reporters. "Police have arrested a few people who were selling these tickets outside the stadium."

People with genuine tickets were forced to queue outside the stadium for longer than expected because of the counterfeits, he said. "Normally a genuine ticket is checked within a few seconds [using computerised scanners]. We had to push back all the fake-ticket-holders, and the genuine ticket-buyer had to wait for a long time in the queues."

The PCB plans to open the gates for Wednesday's series decider - a 23,000 sellout - four hours before the scheduled start of the game, in an attempt to avoid another last-minute rush for seats.

More ingenious were the three Indian fans caught trying to enter the ground posing as journalists. Suspicions were aroused when two of the three were spotted wearing Indian replica shirts - their fake accreditation was quickly spotted, and they were arrested. "All the three were Indian nationals," Shaharyar explained. "We handed them to security officials because their accreditation cards were fake."

Shaharyar concluded by saying that a huge delegation of Indian businessmen would be arriving for Wednesday's game, possibly including Jagmohan Dalmiya, his counterpart at the Indian board. When asked if Pakistan's interior ministry was unhappy at the PCB's organisation, Shaharyar admitted he had been sent a list of suggestions, although he said: "I have not been called by anyone because I don't work under any minister."