Tickets for the first India - England ODI fly off the shelf in no time

The Maharashtra Cricket Association has announced that tickets for the first One-Day International cricket match between hosts India and England have been sold out. The first ODI of the 3-match ODI series will commence on 15 January 2017 at the MCA’s International Stadium, Gahunje. The England team which recently lost the Test series 4-0 is currently off to their homeland for the Christmas and New Year celebrations and will return in January.

“This is a great moment for MCA. Among many reasons for this sell-out include, the current form of the Indian team, the long gap since the last ODI was played in Pune, the following that the sport has in India and undoubtedly the Punekars,” said MCA President, Ajay Shirke.

Ticket sales for the day-night fixture commenced on 15 December and were sold out in 12 days, MCA said in a media release, adding that bookings for both physical and online tickets have thus, ended. The sell-out simply means that the stadium, which has a total capacity of 37,40, will capacity crowd in attendance at the game.

With the inclusions of other new venues, The MCA stadium in Pune has been deprived of cricketing action in the last few years. The upcoming the India – England fixture will, in fact, be the only second ODI to be hosted at the stadium after a three-year gap, the release said. The last time an ODI was played at the MCA Stadium was the India-Australia encounter on October 13, 2013.

After Pune, England will travel to Cuttack (19 January) and Kolkata (22 January) to play the remaining two ODIs. Post the conclusion of the ODI series, a three T20 Internationals series is also slated between 26 January and 1 February at Kanpur, Nagpur and Bengaluru.