Comment: Karachi final’s pressing issue

Pakistan Super League (PSL) has entered the business end with teams competing in reverse fixtures as four of the six teams vie to book their spots in the qualifier and the eliminators.

While Multan Sultans and Karachi Kings have forwarded strong cases for the top two spots, there is a non-cricketing issue that stares the PSL management right in their faces — the organisation of the landmark final in Karachi.

Apart from the entire hullabaloo created on the topic where claims are being made that the final might be switched to Lahore citing security or administrative concerns, one issue that is being ignored or swept under the carpet or not being considered seriously is the sales of the tickets for the final.

Karachi, a city which hosts a population of nearly 20 million, will flood to the National Stadium in order to watch the match but most of the population might find it hard to reserve a seat courtesy a near to 35,000 capacity of the venue.

With ticket prices starting from Rs1,000 for general stands and ending on Rs12,000 for the VIP enclosures, the demand for the lowest price tickets would be high.

This raises concerns regarding the tickets which are already being promised on social media accounts, even before they are put for sale on the official ticket distributing sites.

As Karachi already faces the problem of limited entertainment avenues, the tickets of the final will sell like hot buns and have already been put on sale in black at raised prices.

The issue crossed my eyes when I saw nearly four to five Facebook friends claiming that they can arrange the tickets of the final and one can contact them privately for prices and availability.

Taken aback and obviously surprised, I contacted them to ask if they had the physical tickets with them, to which one replied that they will be provided to them for selling at raised prices. Also their providers promised free tickets to them if they met specific targets of sales.

This calls for urgent attention of the Pakistan Cricket Board and the PSL management since it is highly expected that people would want to flock to the stadium for the final and problems of duplication and forgery are ever high.

The final of the third edition of the PSL in Karachi promises to open doors of international cricket into the financial capital of Pakistan, but even a small matter like such should be avoided and taken care of in order to avoid any last-minute hiccups.