It would be an understatement to say that cricket is highly loved in India. Fans go to great lengths to watch their favourite cricketers take to the ground. Similar cricket fever has drenched Hyderabad fans who were gearing up for the third match of the India- Australia T20I series on Sunday, 25th September 2022.
Excitement was even high than usual as Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium is set to host an international cricket match after a gap of three years. The last match at this stadium took place on 6th December 2019 when India faced Australia in a T20I match.
Naturally, fans flocked to the ticket counters in great numbers to get their hands on one before all are sold out. What however should have been a great time for the cricket fans soon turned into chaos as police lathi-charged the large crowd gathered at Gymkhana cricket grounds in Hyderabad.
The situation turned into a stampede after police used force to control the crowd after Hyderabad Cricket Association announced the ticket sale at 10 AM on Thursday. People queued up at the ground from 10 PM on Wednesday in hopes of getting the ticket on Thursday.
As soon as the gates were thrown open, the long queue rushed towards the gate resulting in people pushing each other. The police present at the gate tried to disperse the crowd by using force and this was when the situation turned into a stampede.
As the crowd tried to disperse many people fell and were run over by others. This resulted in many getting injured with many passing out under stressful circumstances.
The injured fans as well as some policemen were taken to hospital. Video from the stampede soon surfaced on social media and fans were quick to point out the mismanagement by the HCA and the police.
Many on Twitter called out the Indian Cricket Board as well who still practice archaic ticket sale methods from yesteryears despite the availability of the internet.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the stampede at Gymkhana Grounds:
Mismanagement, poor planning you call it anything but they had to go through lathicharge, stampede and pathetic scenes at Gymkhana Grounds when they wanted to buy tickets for #Cricket Match to be held at Uppal Stadium #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/kWmSJUH7bt
— Nellutla Kavitha (@iamKavithaRao) September 22, 2022
BCCI is the richest & the most powerful cricket board in the world. India/Hyderabad is a software powerhouse. The Indian cricket fans are the most passionate. Yet, cricket fans from Hyderabad are treated like this, trying to get tickets for an #INDvsAUS cricket game. Shocking. https://t.co/zk7thn0Xs6
— Vijay Arumugam (@vijayarumugam) September 22, 2022
Such chaos behind getting tickets for a cricket match #IndVsAus ? People are injured, police had to resort to lathi-charge to bring the swelling crowd under control after stampede like situation prevailed at Gymkhana Grounds, #Secunderabad. Is it worth? #CricketMania #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/bDtlFakj99
— Preeti Biswas (@PreetiBiswasTOI) September 22, 2022
Hey @BCCI please take care Indian cricket Fan by arrange better service for ticket Distribution.
Passionated fans gathered at Gymkhana Ground to collect India Vs Australia tickets in Hyderabad and they're getting such treatment.#INDvsAUS #Bcci #HyderabadCricketAssociation pic.twitter.com/WcYEyLc4yE
— Cricket Critics (@Cricket4critics) September 22, 2022
Absolute chaos… @hycricket_HCA fails miserable in the simple task of ticket sales for #India #Australia #cricket match in #Hyderabad Lathicharge, stampede and injuries… @DeccanChronicle @oratorgreat pic.twitter.com/aNCwYiDuEf
— Balu Pulipaka (@BaluPulipaka) September 22, 2022
No international cricket in #Hyderabad since December 2019. Online ticket sale was closed in minutes after tickets were made available. No clarity on offline ticket sale till yesterday night. Lethargic attitude of #HCA on display yet again. https://t.co/tv1ACaZqQa
— ??????? (@mythreyaa) September 22, 2022
What's the point of boasting Hyderabad as IT investment destination in India when you can't use its services for a simple ticket sale ?@KTRTRS , @azharflicks both of you should feel ashamed of how corrupt the Hyderabad Cricket Association is.
— "°(^-^)°" (@trun_ch) September 22, 2022
Hyderabad Cricket Association is not fit for hosting International matches, From Ticket distribution to crowd management everything is done in a haphazard way. If this is the case for a normal bilateral series, imagine hosting a WC match. https://t.co/Y80yThAJKy
— Chakradhar Reddy (@_Chakradhareddy) September 22, 2022
Its purely the failure of HCA and this is not the first time, earlier also many times when cricket match is scheduled in Hyderabad, ticket-sellling is like a *FISH-MARKET* Why don't they do available *ON-LINE* for the sake of cricket fans? what happened to do so? https://t.co/pQzOsTWGDN
— Akularsnvas (@akularsnvas) September 22, 2022
Passionated fans gathered to collect India Vs Australia tickets in Hyderabad and they're getting such treatment by Police ?#INDvsAUS #INDvAUS #ViratKohli #AUSvsIND #RohitSharma #captaincy pic.twitter.com/OdL2RMrh4w
— Cricket Videos? (@Crickket__Video) September 22, 2022
Do u still want to buy tickets for the match after the worst ill treatment by #HCA ?
Cricket today is surviving bcz of FANS!
Lathi Charge, Its Raining, more than 20 injured.
Resign HCA President Fixeruddin!#Hyderabad #BCCI #IndiavsAustralia
— Vishal Gunti (@vishalgunti) September 22, 2022
Hey @BCCI please take care Indian cricket Fan by arrange better service for ticket Distribution.
Passionated fans gathered at Gymkhana Ground to collect India Vs Australia tickets in Hyderabad and they're getting such treatment. pic.twitter.com/OZqgYzlCjc
— Cricket Critics (@Cricket4critics) September 22, 2022
HCA is most corrupted Cricket body in whole India …they give majority of tickets to celebs ..n remaining tickets are sold at double rates and only 20% of the tickets are sold Legally …if this continues ,even BCCI will avoid to Held a Match in Hyderabad …
— Mahesh Goud #9999# (@indian66669296) September 22, 2022
