We made a mistake my setting such high ticket prices: Najam Sethi

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi has said that the board made a mistake while making a decision on the pricing of the tickets for the ongoing Independence Cup, featuring Pakistan and World XI. PCB chairman has admitted that one of the main reasons for the lack of spectators in the stadium is due to the sky-high pricing of the tickets.

After the 1st T20I, World XI skipper Faf du Plessis had also pointed out the same concern. He said that he hopes that fans will come in to watch the game in the 2nd T20I. PCB had priced the tickets at Rs500, 2,500, 4,000, 6,000 and 8,000 for different enclosures, and for many it was just too expensive.

Expensive seats

“I have a family of five, if I am going to the Imran Khan enclosure (Rs6,000), I will have to pay 30,000 rupees, and few more for food and other expenses. That would be Rs35,000 for three hours entertainment,” a fan had pointed out yesterday.

When a journalist asked the same during Sethi’s press conference with ICC’s CEO David Richardson, the PCB chief admitted the mistake and promised that the board will learn from this and will make a better price list next time.

“You are absolutely right about prices,” Sethi responded to the journalist. “We made a mistake by setting such high prices.”

PCB was misled

He said the PCB, while setting prices for the tickets, was misled by the trend it witnessed during the PSL final in Lahore earlier in March. “We were misled by the trend we saw in PSL when prices were unimportant and irrelevant and people paid high prices to come and witness the event,” the PCB chairman added.

Interestingly, the stadium was packed during the limited overs series between Pakistan and Zimbabwe in the year 2015. The fans will have to opt for television when it comes to watching the ongoing historic series at home.