Business Standard

Eden goes empty at last IPL match

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Pradipta Mukherjee Kolkata

At Elgin Road's Big Bazaar, which is selling more than 300 tickets priced between Rs 325 and Rs 655 for blocks C, L and G, only 60 tickets have been sold so far.

The Pantaloons store on Camac Street, which has 900 tickets on offer, has not even managed to sell half.

 

According to the store manager at Pantaloons, "We would sell out all tickets two days before the match. However, this time we have no takers. People are not even opting for the free tickets."

The general public is of the opinion that there is no point in sitting through a match and cheering for KKR when it is out of the tournament and does not even give an enchanting performance.

Moreover, there is no Shah Rukh Khan performing at Eden Gardens either which could have lured audience.

According to sources in Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), "We have about 80,000 tickets to sell of which only a few thousands have sold so far from Eden Gardens. We are yet to calculate the total sales from other counters."

People buying tickets for the last Kolkata Knight Riders match at Eden Gardens include mainly the middle-aged cricket enthusiasts and a few families looking for an evening out on a Sunday.

So far, Red Chillies Entertainment, the Shah Rukh Khan-managed company which owns KKR, has earned well over Rs 15 crore from six matches played at Eden Gardens.

May 25 will mark the formal end of KKR's innings in the Indian Premier League's inaugural edition.

It will also mark owner Shah Rukh Khan's last visit to Kolkata for the 2008 League.

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First Published: May 26 2008 | 12:00 AM IST

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