Why India vs. Pakistan at the World Cup is the hottest ticket in cricket

India and Pakistan have tense relations in the best of cases, but as far as cricket is concerned, the competition takes on a completely different agenda, where it is not equal in the light of biggest match of the world.

Political and diplomatic tensions will be set aside on June 16 when the two nations will meet at the ICC Cricket World Cup in England in a match that could be watched by more than one billion people .

The match will take place at Manchester's Old Trafford Cricket Ground as part of the tournament group stage. It is once again the most popular cricket ticket.

Tickets for the cricket field with a capacity of 26,000 people were sold several months ago within 48 hours of their release. The organizers were inundated with more than 500,000 requests from fans trying to get their hands on these tickets. Reports suggest that as much as two-thirds of the tickets were awarded to Indian fans, while about 18% were purchased by fans in Pakistan.

At the time of sale, the most expensive Platinum ticket for an adult was $ 300, but one week before the scheduled date of the first meeting between the two teams, the Viagogo resale site sells a gold level ticket at $ 6000. USD.

However, on its website, Viagogo assigns responsibility to sellers by stating: "Ticket sellers compete to offer the best price to customers."

"Viagogo is a market, and ticket sellers on the market are setting their own prices, which may be above or below the original face value, and when demand is high and tickets are limited, prices go up. " says Viagogo.

Part of the clamor of seeing these two great rivals face off on a cricket ground is the fact that in modern times it is a rare event.

Not wishing to compete in any form of bilateral series since 2013, there have been no series of tests between them since 2008. Therefore, cricket fans of both countries have had to wait for matches in major tournaments. At the last meeting of this type, Pakistan reversed the odds by beating India at the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy tournament, also held in England.

In addition, Pakistani players are no longer part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) team competition since 2008 and the lucrative Twenty20 tournament has not even been televised on Pakistani television this year.

Earlier this year, the political situation between the two nations threatened to know whether the cricket game would even continue, after India had called for a boycott and even expulsion from Pakistan even before the start of the tournament.

This took place after the suicide bombing in Kashmir in February, during which more than 40 members of the Indian paramilitary police were killed, under the responsibility of a militant group based in Pakistan. Two weeks later, India fought back with an air strike that, according to the Indian government, hit an activist camp in Pakistan. Pakistan has denied that this attack took place.

A month after these attacks, Indian players made the decision to pay tribute to those who lost their lives by wearing an army camouflage cap when they participated in an international match against the United States. ;Australia.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Ehsan Mani, responded in March: "We believe that cricket and sports should not be used for political purposes," added at a press conference: "The credibility of India in the world of cricket has dropped a lot."

India and Pakistan have already played each other six times at the Cricket World Cups, and India has won over everyone.

The year 2015 saw the holding of the last meeting between India and Pakistan as part of the World Cup, in which the organizers claimed to be the most watched cricket match in the world. It is estimated that the match has attracted more than one billion viewers worldwide, which could be exceeded this weekend.