Indore police arrest 10 people for alleged black-marketing of match tickets

The Indian side will be missing the services of Ashwin in this match

Ten people have been arrested for allegedly black-marketing tickets of the One Day International match which is being played today between India and South Africa at Holkar stadium in Indore.

Acting on a tip-off, the crime branch arrested 10 persons from different areas here for black-marketing tickets of the ODI in last 24 hours, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Vinayprakash Paul told the media. They were planning to sell 40 match tickets ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 3,000 at much higher prices.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association Chairman Jyotiraditya Scindia stated that the demand for the match tickets were higher than the amount available to them.

"If we come across any irregularity in the sale of tickets, we will go for a probe into it," he told reporters.

Asked about the outburst of BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya over the ODI tickets, Scindia said politics should not been drawn into sports.

Vijaywargiya, the president of the Cricket Association (Indore division), had on October 12 tweeted: "Whenever any match took place in Indore, I have watched it along with everyone associated with the board, in the stadium. This time however we express the MPCA’s inability to provide tickets for the ODI and I apologise to all the people for the same."

"Because of being busy in Bihar Assembly elections, I will not be able to personally come to Indore to watch the match. My family too will watch it at our home on television set. I request all of you also to enjoy it in your homes on TV," Vijaywargiya said.

This match has certain significance to Indore as the city is hosting an ODI match after a gap of four years. BCCI along with MPCA would ideally want to host the ODI match without any controversy after the fiasco at Cuttack.

Meanwhile after losing the first One Day International at Kanpur narrowly, the Indian team will desperately want to bounce back in the Indore match. The Indian team management made a number of changes to the side with spinner Ravichandran Ashwin out due to injury while Stuart Binny and Amit Mishra have been dropped from the playing XI. Harbhajan Singh, Axar Patel and Mohit Sharma replace them in the starting lineup.

The small stadium of Indore is known for its flat wicket along with the lightning fast outfield. A fascinating battle is on the cards with lots of runs being expected to be scored here.