Fans learn bitter lesson with fake tickets!

Indian fans cheer up during the ICC Men`s Cricket World Cup 2023 match between India and Pakistan, at Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad. Pic/PTI

Across the last few days, in the build-up to the big ticket India v Pakistan clash here, there have been numerous reports of the city police's Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) apprehending people selling fake match tickets. There was a fear that though some touts and their fake tickets were caught and confiscated, there could be other such illegal tickets that had already been sold to unsuspecting buyers. And these fears came true when the electronic turnstiles at the Narendra Modi Stadium here promptly detected some dodgy tickets on Saturday. "I don't know the exact number, but there are a few people who came with fake tickets, particularly for the cheaper stands, and were denied entry," one of the ticket-checkers at the gates told mid-day.

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While it's sad because these fans would have paid big sums for a dream India v Pakistan World Cup encounter only to be conned, this also goes to show that there's always an element of risk while buying tickets from unofficial sources or the black market.

Every match ticket has a unique barcode, which is scanned by the electronic turnstile and only when a green light appears, is a person allowed to go through. If the light turns red, the ticket is not genuine. "Some of the fake tickets may not be detected by the naked eye, but there is no way the turnstiles will make a mistake," added the ticket-checker, who belongs to an online platform that is handling the ticketing process for this World Cup.