MUMBAI (Reuters) – Not a single ticket for the Cricket World Cup final to be held in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on April 2 was sold to the public after the official website crashed, the ICC told Reuters on Tuesday.

Tickets were put on sale at 0730 GMT on Monday via the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) official ticketing partner Kyazoonga.com, but the website buckled under the pressure of huge traffic, sparking furious complaints from fans.

“We apologise to anyone who was trying to get on but these are exceptional circumstances when 10 million people were trying to get on the website at one time,” an ICC spokesman said.

“They (Kyazoonga) were working throughout the night to get it up and running and not one ticket has been sold from the quota we had.”

Of the 33,000 seats at the Wankhede, around 4,000 are available to the public — 1,000 online while another 3,000-odd will be sold later for those who queue up at stadium box offices. The rest are distributed among the ICC and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

On Tuesday morning, the website was back up but had no information as to when tickets would go back on sale.

A small message on the website trumpeted: “And we’re back! All semis and finals tickets that are to go up on sale here are intact. Please stay tuned for further updates.”

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Not a single ticket for the Cricket World Cup final to be held in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on April 2 was sold to the public after the official website crashed, the ICC told Reuters Tuesday.

Tickets were put on sale at 0730 GMT Monday via the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) official ticketing partner Kyazoonga.com, but the website buckled under the pressure of huge traffic, sparking furious complaints from fans.

“We apologise to anyone who was trying to get on but these are exceptional circumstances when 10 million people were trying to get on the website at one time,” an ICC spokesman said.

“They (Kyazoonga) were working throughout the night to get it up and running and not one ticket has been sold from the quota we had.”

Of the 33,000 seats at the Wankhede, around 4,000 are available to the public — 1,000 online while another 3,000-odd will be sold later for those who queue up at stadium box offices. The rest are distributed among the ICC and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

Tuesday morning, the website was back up but had no information as to when tickets would go back on sale.

A small message on the website trumpeted: “And we’re back! All semis and finals tickets that are to go up on sale here are intact. Please stay tuned for further updates.”

MUMBAI, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Not a single ticket for the Cricket World Cup final to be held in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on April 2 was sold to the public after the official website crashed, the ICC told Reuters on Tuesday.

Tickets were put on sale at 0730 GMT on Monday via the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) official ticketing partner Kyazoonga.com, but the website buckled under the pressure of huge traffic, sparking furious complaints from fans.

“We apologise to anyone who was trying to get on but these are exceptional circumstances when 10 million people were trying to get on the website at one time,” an ICC spokesman said.

“They (Kyazoonga) were working throughout the night to get it up and running and not one ticket has been sold from the quota we had.”

Of the 33,000 seats at the Wankhede, around 4,000 are available to the public — 1,000 online while another 3,000-odd will be sold later for those who queue up at stadium box offices. The rest are distributed among the ICC and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

On Tuesday morning, the website was back up but had no information as to when tickets would go back on sale.

A small message on the website trumpeted: “And we’re back! All semis and finals tickets that are to go up on sale here are intact. Please stay tuned for further updates.”

MUMBAI (Reuters) – The website selling just 1000 tickets for the Cricket World Cup final in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on April 2 crashed seconds after they went on sale on Monday sparking furious complaints from fans.

Tickets were put on sale at 0730 GMT via the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) official ticketing partner KyaZoonga.com but the website buckled under the pressure of huge traffic.

“We are facing absolutely unprecedented amounts of traffic from all over the world, with hundreds of millions of people hitting at once,” the online agent said in a statement posted on Facebook.

“Some of you may have trouble accessing the site. It seems that cricket fever has surpassed all anticipations and expectations. Please bear with us as our network team works on bringing you the tickets you all have been waiting for.”

Of the 33,000 seats at the Wankhede, around 4000 are available to the public — 1000 online while another 3000 odd will be sold later for those who queue up at stadium box offices.

The rest are distributed among the ICC and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

An unnamed source at Yahoo said they were being inundated by complaints from hundreds of fans who were unable to log on to the official ticket agency through a link posted on the popular search engine’s website.

MUMBAI (Reuters) – The website selling just 1000 tickets for the Cricket World Cup final in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on April 2 crashed seconds after they went on sale on Monday sparking furious complaints from fans.

Tickets were put on sale at 7:30 a.m. British time via the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) official ticketing partner Kyazoonga.com but the website buckled under the pressure of huge traffic.

Of the 31,000 seats at the Wankhede Stadium, only 4000 are available to the public — 1000 online while another 3000 will be sold later for those who queue up at stadium box offices.

The rest are distributed among the ICC and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

An unnamed source at Yahoo said they were being inundated by complaints from hundreds of fans who were unable to log on to the official ticket agency through a link posted on the popular search engine’s website.

With such a small proportion available to the general public in a cricket-crazy country where the population is more than a billion, it is little wonder that there has been a mad scramble for tickets.

With the Indian team living up to their favourite tag by walloping Bangladesh in the opening World Cup match, expectations are high of a home-team success come April 2.

MUMBAI, Feb 21 (Reuters) – The website selling just 1000 tickets for the Cricket World Cup final in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on April 2 crashed seconds after they went on sale on Monday sparking furious complaints from fans.

Tickets were put on sale at 0730 GMT via the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) official ticketing partner Kyazoonga.com but the website buckled under the pressure of huge traffic.

Of the 31,000 seats at the Wankhede Stadium, only 4000 are available to the public — 1000 online while another 3000 will be sold later for those who queue up at stadium box offices.

The rest are distributed among the ICC and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

An unnamed source at Yahoo said they were being inundated by complaints from hundreds of fans who were unable to log on to the official ticket agency through a link posted on the popular search engine’s website.

With such a small proportion available to the general public in a cricket-crazy country where the population is more than a billion, it is little wonder that there has been a mad scramble for tickets.

With the Indian team living up to their favourite tag by walloping Bangladesh in the opening World Cup match, expectations are high of a home-team success come April 2.

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium went into complete lockdown on Saturday just 24 hours after it was criticised by the city’s top fire chief for not meeting safety standards.

All unauthorised personnel were being shooed away by harassed security guards, who were under orders not to allow any media to come within 75 metres of the stadium, which will host the World Cup final on April 2.

“We are under so much tension. Every day something or the other is happening. Please go away. Our jobs are on the line. If any officer sees you, we will be in trouble,” a uniformed guard told Reuters as he escorted journalists out of the stadium complex.

A large digital clock in front of the Indian cricket board BCCI.L headquarters, which is housed in the same compound as the Wankhede, was counting down the minutes to India’s opening World Cup match against Bangladesh in Dhaka later on Saturday.

There was no disguising the fact that time was fast running short too for Mumbai’s cricket authorities to get their problems sorted before the venue hosts the first of its three World Cup matches on March 13.

Safety inspectors were unhappy that mandatory fire equipment, including water hydrants, no-smoking indicators, fire alarms and extinguishers were still not in place.

“They should have sorted this beforehand as you never want to leave these things so late,” a Mumbai fire officer, who declined to reveal his name, told Reuters while leaning through the window of his engine after freeing a trapped bird from a house situated just a stone’s throw away from the stadium.

MUMBAI, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium went into complete lockdown on Saturday just 24 hours after it was criticised by the city’s top fire chief for not meeting safety standards.

All unauthorised personnel were being shooed away by harassed security guards, who were under orders not to allow any media to come within 75 metres of the stadium, which will host the World Cup final on April 2.

“We are under so much tension. Every day something or the other is happening. Please go away. Our jobs are on the line. If any officer sees you, we will be in trouble,” a uniformed guard told Reuters as he escorted journalists out of the stadium complex.

A large digital clock in front of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) headquarters, which is housed in the same compound as the Wankhede, was counting down the minutes to India’s opening World Cup match against Bangladesh in Dhaka later on Saturday.

There was no disguising the fact that time was fast running short too for Mumbai’s cricket authorities to get their problems sorted before the venue hosts the first of its three World Cup matches on March 13.

Safety inspectors were unhappy that mandatory fire equipment, including water hydrants, no-smoking indicators, fire alarms and extinguishers were still not in place.

“They should have sorted this beforehand as you never want to leave these things so late,” a Mumbai fire officer, who declined to reveal his name, told Reuters while leaning through the window of his engine after freeing a trapped bird from a house situated just a stone’s throw away from the stadium.

MUMBAI, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Buying an ear-splitting alarm clock might be on top of Suresh Raina’s shopping list on Friday after the Indian batsman almost missed his team’s charter flight to Dhaka for their opening World Cup match against Bangladesh.

The left-handed batsman gave his team mates a few anxious moments when he overslept on Thursday and missed the bus carrying Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men to Chennai airport.

The 24-year-old eventually made a late dash to the airport in a taxi and caught up with his team mates as they were boarding the plane.

In case Raina thought he was indispensable to the team, he was given a wake-up call by his captain.

“When you have a squad of 15 players and you miss a few, you don’t really mind it,” Dhoni jokingly told reporters.

“But you know when you are in India, there’s always somebody who will give you a ride to make sure you make your flight so I’m not really worried about it.”

India begin their bid to win a second 50-over World Cup title on Saturday when they play fellow co-hosts Bangladesh.

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Cricket’s governing body (ICC) is unhappy that banned batsman Salman Butt has been hired as a TV pundit for the World Cup and is checking whether the Pakistani has breached the terms of his punishment.

“We are not satisfied with this appointment and we have written to (ICC) tribunal chairman Michael Beloff QC to enquire whether this could be viewed as a breach against the terms of his suspended sentence,” ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement.

Butt was banned for at least five years by an ICC anti-corruption tribunal earlier this month after being found guilty of spot-fixing elements of a test against England last year.

The former opener is also facing criminal charges of accepting bribes and fraud by the London Metropolitan Police and will appear in a London court on March 17.

The ICC statement added: “The Board, having a zero tolerance attitude towards corruption, expressed disappointment at the decision by a minor Pakistan television channel, which has no relationship with the ICC, to employ the suspended Mr Salman Butt as a studio pundit during the World Cup.”

Butt was also sacked by his employer, for whom he played domestic cricket, and had his central contract terminated by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

The former skipper, who will be working for Pakisan’s Channel 5, has denied any wrongdoing.