Website selling tickets for Sachin's last match crashes

Twitter users offered match tickets in black

Cricket sensation Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th and last match has managed to pull down the official website selling the tickets of the match.

Online ticket booking portal KyaZoonga.com crashed as hundreds of cricket fans tried to access the website to book tickets to the match to be played on November 14, at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.

KyaZoonga said in a statement that given the excitement around Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell match, the company witnessed an unprecedented traffic on its website.

“Some people experienced delays in accessing the ticketing site following a surge in traffic around 11a.m. this morning, with a record 19.7 million hits within the first hour. Even as high levels of traffic continue to be sustained, transactions are being processed during this period,” the company said.

“If this traffic continues to be at these high levels, it could perhaps surpass the momentum witnessed even during the past Olympic Games,” the company added.

According to media reports, about 5,000 fans who had gathered at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s office at the Wankhede Stadium to book tickets, were disappointed as they were told that tickets would be sold only online.

Fans looking to book tickets for Tendulkar’s last match posted their ire on micro-blogging website Twitter, where KyaZoonga was trending the highest. Fans were also angry as KyaZoonga has been authorised to sell just about 5,000 tickets, whereas the stadium has a capacity to seat 32,000. The rush to book tickets has also meant an opportunity to sell them in black. Mahesh Murthy, founder of Pinstrom and founding partner Seed Fund, tweeted, “ThankYouSachin for helping turn twitter into a black market. Was just offered Rs 500 tickets here for Rs 15,000.”