A currency crisis and poor attendances have led to the slashing of ticket prices for the ongoing Test cricket series between India and England.
The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) decided that tickets for today’s (Monday) third day of the Third test would be reduced, while Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has substantially lowered prices ahead of the match that begins at the Wankhede Stadium in a fortnight.
The series has been dogged by poor crowds, which is in part due to decreasing interest in five-day cricket. More pertinent is the effect of demonetisation, through which Rs500 (£5.8/$7.3/€6.8) and Rs1,000 notes were declared invalid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month.
In the second Test, Visakhapatnam made entry free on the first day, and the PCA said last week it was considering its options as it sought to keep prices down during what has become a currency crisis. The PCA added that it was forced to act because it needed to generate cash to pay employees and contractors.
PCA secretary GS Walia said last week: “We are still planning and thinking of ways to get around the cash crunch. One way out, which is still in the planning stage, is to reduce ticket prices so that fans and cricket enthusiasts don’t need bigger denomination currency to purchase them.”
Tickets for the fourth Test in Mumbai have generally been cut by 50%, with the cheapest dropping to Rs100 from the Rs200 charged for the India-West Indies Test played in the city in 2013.
MCA sources told the First Post newspaper: "We have decided to keep the ticket rates cheaper as compared to the rates we had maintained during the Tendulkar [2013] Test match."
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