World Cup 2023 tickets app, website crashes for 40 minutes

The much-delayed sale of tickets for the ODI World Cup began on Friday (August 25) but fans had a tough time booking them with the official website not working for a good 35 to 40 minutes.

The opening day of ticket sales was reserved for non-India matches, including the warm-ups. However, the process started at 8 pm IST and soon after fans complained of the 'Bookmyshow' application crashing amid a mad rush to book the tickets.

'Bookmyshow' is the ticketing partner for the World Cup beginning October 5.

"This is really frustrating - after such a delayed announcement of ticket sales, if the basic systems infrastructure is not in place, it speaks very poorly of the mighty BCCI and ICC. Events like these are organised world over and systems like lotteries and ticket queues are common. Why are those not in pace for such a large event," Delhi-based fan Atirav Kapur told PTI on Friday.

Half an hour into the ticket sales, the website started working but by then a chunk of the fans had lost their patience.

"Ticket sale for matches other than India started at 8PM. It's 8:08 PM now - BookMyShow app is crashed. Cricket in India. Wondering what will happen when tickets for India's game will go up on sale," wrote Nilesh G on X, formerly Twitter.

The ticket sales for India games in Chennai, Delhi and Pune will go live on August 31 while the coveted ones for the Indo-Pak blockbuster in Ahmedabad will be put up for sale on September 3.

The BCCI and ICC had opted for a staggered sale process to offer a smooth experience to the fans.

"This is the level of preparedness @bookmyshow has for a World Cup! Sorry @ICC but it seems like your ticketing partners are just not up to the task," wrote another X user Arka Dyuti Palit.

The fans have already criticised the organisers for their handling of ticket sales and schedule for the first ODI World Cup in India since 2011.

Earlier this month, the BCCI and ICC revised the schedule of as many as nine games after announcing the full schedule in June.

In contrast, the schedule of the previous World Cup in England and even the 2011 edition in India was announced well in advance.

(With agency inputs)