The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has filed a formal FIR against an office employee after nearly 600 tickets for the Pakistan and Zimbabwe series were stolen from the board office.
An official of the board told PTI that they were suspicions about the involvement of an employee in the theft and after he refused to confess to the board officials and they were forced to file a police report against him.
"The tickets are of the highest price denomination at 1500 rupees per ticket but more than the money we are concerned from a security point of view," he said.
The first T20 international between Pakistan and Zimbabwe on Friday night at the Gaddafi stadium marked the return of international cricket to Pakistan after six years and true to the occasion nearly 30,000 spectators jam-packed the stadium.
According to the official, the noteworthy part was that there no complimentary tickets given to anyone and the PCB Chairman had made it clear everyone and anyone will have to purchase their tickets.
"The first T20 turned out to be a huge success but we are not relaxing at all since they are four more matches to go and the security arrangements will remain as stringent as ever until the Zimbabwe team is in Lahore," the official said.
He said the PCB was heartened by the turn-out and interest in the match on Friday.
"It was a pleasant surprise to see the people who came to the stadium in such humid conditions and showed so much discipline and co-operated fully with the security and law enforcement agencies even though they had to pass through three different security layers to get into their enclosures," the official added.
"I think we gave out the perfect message last night that Pakistani people love cricket and the international cricket community needs to support us more. We just want the people to continue their support for Pakistan cricket by coming in large numbers for the remaining matches as well," he said.
