As Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Snehasish Ganguly is under fire over IND vs SA ticket black market row, former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has come out in his brother’s support. Kolkata Police summoned Snehasish was after a fan lodged a complaint, saying CAB had purposefully set aside a chunk of tickets for black marketeers. Sourav said the state body has no role. India vs South Africa Cricket World Cup clash will be at the Eden Gardens on Nov 5.
Ahead of IND vs SA Cricket World Cup game, tickets are sold out on BookMyShow. However, the lowest ticket worth Rs 900 is being sold on the black market for Rs 5,000.
“Only the Police can get hold of the culprit. CAB has no role in this. Eden has a capacity of 67,000 and the demand is for more than one lakh. It happens everywhere, the demand for tickets is so high, that you can’t beat it. Nobody has control over it, only the Police can stop this,” Sourav Ganguly told PTI after a meeting with his elder brother on Thursday.
Complain against CAB
A fan lodged a complaint at the Maidan Police Station, alleging that CAB had “purposefully put aside a large chunk of the tickets meant for the general public, making those available to the black marketers for their personal gains.” The complaint also mentioned the online portal BookMyShow, the official ticketing partner of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Defending brother Snehasish, Sourav Ganguly said, “It’s unfortunate. CAB can’t sell tickets. They don’t have Box Office once the ticket is out from Eden Gardens, nobody knows where and for what price it is sold.”
But not only the fans, CAB did not please life members of the association either. CAB has got around 11,000 tickets for life members and sponsors among other guests.
“Nowhere, it’s written in the CAB constitution that a life member will get tickets for life. The CAB in fact has given 3000 tickets,” the former India captain said.
