CHENNAI: The ticket sales for the World Cup matches at Chepauk began on Wednesday with huge cro*wds swarming the MA Chidambaram stadium. The crowds started swelling from early mo*rning for some had come to the ground on Tuesday night itself. Hundreds of fans queuing up for tickets pushed down a portion of the wall, injuring two people, a man and a woman, a venue official sa*id.

There was huge demand for the lower-end tickets of the denomination of `500 and `1000, particularly for the India-West Indies match to be held on March 20. As the crowds rose to unmanageable levels with ever*yone vying for space a porti*on of the co*mpound wall behind the ‘A’ stand caved in due to pressure.

“The wall is at the periphery of the stadium and a small portion of it collapsed when fans pressed against it,” Tamil Nadu Cricket Association secretary KS Viswanathan said.

The injured has been attented to. It was a minor incident,” he added. The wall was a makeshift one constructed during the India vs New Zealand match last December. The incident occurred an hour after ticket sales for the matches at the stadium began at 9 am.

According to sou*rces, there was a lone policeman managing the unruly crowd that surged towards the ticket counters situated on the boundary and were putting pressure against the wall in front of the entry gate.

Within half an hour more cops arrived to set the crowd in order as tic*ket sales went on uninterrupted.

Sources said that since it was an ICC tournament most of the tickets had been blocked by the world body. With online sales too in full swing, the quantity of tickets available in particular for the India-West Indies tie had come down drastically.

Last week, officials faced embarrassment after Kolkata’s Eden Gardens was found to be unfit to host the India-England game on February 27.

Chennai will be hosting four matches New Zealand vs Kenya in the opener on Feb 20 followed by England vs South Africa on March 6. On March 17, England take on West Indies and India play West Indies on March 20.

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