HCA, Sunrisers Hyderabad Alleged To Be Rigging IPL Ticket Sale

The All-India Youth Federation (AIYF), the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the Progressive Youth League (PYL), under the banner of the United Action Committee of Telangana State Youth Associations, today demanded that the State government take action against the managements of the HCA and the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad for their "lack of transparency" in the sale and issuance of IPL match tickets.

The organisations alleged that when they had tried to give a memorandum seeking an answer about the laxity to HCA president Jaganmohan Rao, the association staff and security personnel stopped them and a scuffle had broken out.

They said that left with no option, they handed over their memorandum to the inward section officer Narayana of the association.

AIYF State president Wali Ullah Qadri and general secretary K Dharmendra, DYFI State president Kota Ramesh and PYL state executive member B Krishna jointly said that for the IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore scheduled to be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal on the 25th of this month, tickets were put up for sale last Friday but the HCA announced that the tickets were sold out within minutes of being put up for sale on Paytm.

They demanded that the HCA and SRH explain to the people of the State how more than 36,000 tickets could be sold out within half an hour of being put on sale.

"While tickets and complimentary passes are being given liberally to celebrities, government officials and influential persons to enhance their relationships, the organisers of the Hyderabad Cricket Association and Sunrisers Hyderabad have blocked out the average spectators and are selling the tickets illegally through the black market," they claimed.

They alleged that there was a lack of coordination between the HCA and SRH, and that the ticket issuing company Paytm was taking advantage of the internal differences at the expense of the cricket lovers.

They said that in the past HCA and IPL administrators used to disclose the details of the ticket sales, but that the practice had been stopped now.

They demanded that the government link the sale of tickets with Aadhaar cards as the sale of tickets in bulk to corporates was leading to a shortage of tickets.