Excitement is reaching fever pitch in Colombo and across South Asia after Pakistan decided to play India in the T20 World Cup, resuming the most lucrative match in cricket.
World cricket’s hottest tickets have been hard to come by, despite Sunday night’s game in the Sri Lankan capital only being confirmed late on Monday.
The 35,000-capacity R. Premadasa Stadium was sold out, sources told news agency AFP, with tickets fetching at least four times their face value on the black market.
Prices for airfare and hotel bookings in Colombo, Sri Lanka have soared, with room rates rising to $660 per night compared to the typical price of around $100-$150 per night, multiple booking sites have shown.
Flights from Chennai, which is about an hour and a half away, more than tripled to about $623 to $756, while flights from Delhi rose more than 50 percent to about $666.
Nalin Jayasundera, president of Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO), said hotels were booked. “Most fans opt for all-inclusive packages, which can cost between $1,500 and $2,000 or even more, depending on ticket, hotel and flight prices,” Jayasundera said.
Buddhika Hewawasam, chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, told Reuters that in the first 10 days of February, about 20 percent of Sri Lanka’s 100,000 visitors attended the cricket match between India and Pakistan.
Hundreds of millions more will watch the match that gave the tournament its impetus on television in India, Pakistan and beyond.
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Tensions in Kashmir
Emotions are expected to run high as every ball and shot is cheered or derided in this high-stakes clash between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors, whose rivalry still traces its roots to the partition of British India in 1947, subsequent wars including in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999, and ongoing disputes over Kashmir.
Both teams are two wins from two in Group A, meaning the winner should be guaranteed a place in the Super Eights round.
These days, the two bitter rivals only meet in global or regional tournaments and only on neutral territory.
It has been over 18 years since India and Pakistan last met in a Test match and 13 years since both sides crossed the border to play a bilateral series.
They met three times in the Asia T20 Cup in Dubai last September and India won each time, including the final.
The television audience for Sunday’s match is expected to break all records.
People often talk about the wild numbers of more than a billion views of the India-Pakistan games.
However, according to verifiable data from the International Cricket Council (ICC), the most watched match was the 2011 50-over World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka in Mumbai, which was watched by 558 million unique viewers.
India’s victory over Pakistan in the semi-finals of this tournament is the second with 495 million.