Women outside Chepauk late on Thursday night. Most of these women are getting paid Rs 800 to stand in queue and pass on tickets to black market racketeers. (Photo: Venkata Krishna B/Indian Express) A middle-aged lady suffering from elephantiasis and barely able to stand, a handful of women who usually reside on the pavement outside the stadium and on Marina Beach – who struggle to put food on the plate for their kids on a daily basis – young girls aged between 13-16 who have discontinued school, and daily-wage labourers who depend on part-time work are among a crowd of 700-800 women waiting outside the Pattabhiraman Gate of the MA Chidambaram Stadium to get IPL tickets worth Rs 2,000.
A few metres ahead, the scene is pretty similar on Victoria Hostel Road – where the police have barricaded the entrance from both ends as early as 2.30 am, denying entry to anyone who wants to join the queue for the cheapest tickets available at Rs 1,500. Most of the 500-odd boys who have lined up appear to be college students or ones who do odd jobs for survival.
There is one common trait amongst most of them – other than the obvious fact that they are here to collect two tickets each to get a glimpse of their favourite Thala MS Dhoni in Chennai Super Kings’ last league match against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Most of these women are getting paid Rs 800 to stand in queue and pass on tickets to black market racketeers who sell Rs 1,500 tickets for 5000 and Rs 2,000 ticket for an excess of 6,500. pic.twitter.com/Xni0d8Tjqj
— Venkata Krishna B (@venkatatweets) May 12, 2023
READ: The Rajinification of Thala Dhoni
When prodded, most of them don’t even know who the Super Kings are playing. There is one startling admission though. “We are being offered Rs 800 to stand in the queue and buy tickets. We will hand them over, and those people in turn will sell them for Rs 5,000 each in the black market. This is the fourth match I’m standing in the queue for and for every six hours, I get Rs 800,” says a teenager.
Women outside Chepauk late on Thursday night. Most of these women are getting paid Rs 800 to stand in queue and pass on tickets to black market racketeers. (Photo: Venkata Krishna B/Indian Express)
Having joined the queue as early as around 11.30 pm (Thursday) for the counter ticket sale that began at 7 am (Friday), some of the young boys are also buying tickets on their own to sell to those who turn up late.
“In the black market, people are ready to pay Rs 5,000 for these tickets (C,D,E lower stand). So, even if I end up losing sleep for a night, and spend Rs 3,000 from my pocket, I can get back Rs 7,000. For the Mumbai Indians match, these tickets were sold for Rs 8,000. With this being the last match, I expect similar demand,” he says as his friend fends off resistance from police and passes over a bottle of buttermilk in the queue where lit cigarettes are passed around with the stench of marijuana hanging in the air.
Profiteering on passion
At the women’s counter, the story is similar. A majority of them are middle-aged women, who usually do cleaning work for the corporation on a part-time basis or engage in whatever work that comes their way. This April-May, getting paid to stand in the queue has been their go-to-job as there is unprecedented demand for IPL tickets from all sorts of people. Some don’t even want to be photographed as it could lead to trouble from police later on.
It is not that police are unaware of this black market racket, but even they have been unable to stop it, just arresting a few through the whole season. “We are not interested in who is playing. We are offered money to stand, and once we buy them, one of them will collect it from us,” a middle-aged lady says.
On match days at Chepauk, these tickets are handed over to those residing in the locality around the stadium. These tickets are then put on sale openly on social media platforms. With many hesitant to buy tickets via social media platforms, the Mohammad Abdullah 2nd street on Bells Road, adjacent to the stadium, has become the hub of sales. A couple of hours before Super Kings’ home match against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday, 3-4 men were seen selling I, J, K stands’ tickets worth Rs, 2,000 and Rs 2,500 for Rs 8,000 and above.
And right through the season so far, there have been countless fans, who have travelled from across the city and beyond, hoping to get tickets from the counter at actual rates, only to return home disappointed, venting their frustrations at the franchise.
A massive crowd of women outside Chepauk late on Thursday night. (Photo: Venkata Krishna B/Indian Express)
The story is no different on Friday morning. A group of 5-6 college students, who have come from Trichy in the hope of getting a glimpse of Dhoni – assuming this is his last season – are not even able to join the queue as police have installed barricades and even reporters are stopped from clicking photographs on Victoria Hall Road. Last week, a Tamil news channel had aired visuals of police buying tickets from the counter.
Right through the season, there have been complaints that police are picking up tickets from the counter by breaking the queue and selling them in the black market. Ahead of last Wednesday’s match, a cop deployed for duty outside the stadium was seen inquiring from people if they needed tickets. A few minutes later, he sold two tickets worth Rs, 1,500 for Rs 4,000 to a couple of them who had travelled from Coimbatore.
Die-hard fans shortchanged
While ticket sales have been thriving in the black market, thousands of Super Kings fans have been left ruing the missed opportunity of watching Dhoni and have been asking for the franchise to act by putting all the tickets for sale online. “If they put all these tickets online, you can’t buy it in black because each person can book only two tickets. Selling it via counters is only helping those who sell in the black market. This season, we have seen that IPL tickets are unaffordable for us. And it seems as if the franchise – who we have backed all through – has let us down,” says Dinesh Kumar, who has been a regular at the venue since 2010.
With the demand sky-high, the franchise hired a train – Whistle Podu Express that started from Kanyakumari and picked up 750 fans in total from Tirunelveli, Madurai and Trichy – for two matches. Before the game against Mumbai Indians, the franchise introduced a separate counter for women and the differently-abled to buy tickets. As far as selling all tickets online, a franchise official stated that it gets sold out in no time and hence they had to continue over-the- counter sales. “We are aware of people selling tickets they pick up at the counter in black market, but we are not able to stop it. We can’t prevent anyone from standing in the line and as long as they pay the money, we are bound to hand over the ticket to them. We even put a cap of two tickets per person so that one person doesn’t end up buying them in bulk,” a franchise official said.
Get latest updates on IPL 2025 from IPL Points Table to Teams, Schedule, Most Runs and Most Wickets along with live cricket score updates for all matches. Also get Sports news and more cricket updates.
8 min read
