Crowds gathered in numbers in front of the Chepauk stadium for tickets on Thursday for the second India-England Test match starting from Saturday. The historic stadium will welcome fans back into the stands for the first time since COVID disrupted the cricket calendar. The BCCI earlier requested the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association to allow 50 percent of the crowd capacity for the second Test in Chennai. England beat India by 227 runs in the first Test and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

Although all ticket sales took place online, fans were required to pick their physical tickets from the stadium. The crowds have waited patiently for the game of cricket to be back in India and the stadiums to be reopened for over a year now. Previously the Syed Mushtaq Ali kickstarted domestic cricket in India. The tournament was held behind closed doors. The India-England series kickstarted international cricket in India after the COVID break.

“The TNCA had announced that tickets booked online for the second Test could be redeemed from February 11. However, they seem to have misunderstood it and came to the stadium resulting in crowds and confusion,” the TNCA official told PTI.

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Fans React On Ticket Sale At Chepauk Stadium

The official also said the issuing of tickets would be smoother on Friday. Meanwhile, a random Twitter user posted about the sale of tickets outside the Chepauk stadium.

“Insane crowd at Chepauk for the retrieval of physical tickets. Friends standing in queue for the last couple of hours & the crowd hasn’t moved an inch,” a Twitter user posted.

Amid the excitement of buying tickets for the second Test match at the Chepauk, the social distancing norms were ignored by the fans. However, the city police said that the situation was well handled by the policemen.

Meanwhile, while there was excitement for many fans, some spoke about the chaos and confusion around the stadium, while buying the tickets.

“Had a worst day in my life time, standing more than 6 hours in the que to redemption of my tickets for #INDvsENG test at #chepauk, returned with empty hands along with leg pain and frustration,” a twitter user posted.

Official sources say that the spectators can redeem their tickets on Friday and Saturday too.

Also Read: Chepauk To Open Three Stands For Second India-England Test