New York’s India-Pakistan Cricket Match Will Be The Hottest Ticket As Prices Announced

In just four months, the U.S. will be the focus of the cricket world for the first time as anticipation builds for the sport’s marquee event of the year. All eyes in June will be on the T20 World Cup in a potentially era-defining tournament held in the U.S. and the Caribbean.

With so much at stake for cricket’s development in the U.S. – with the popular British Commonwealth game’s power brokers trying to infiltrate the world’s biggest sports market – it is inevitable that India and Pakistan will be played in New York.

It is the most heated rivalry arguably in sports given the intense political situation for the nuclear-armed neighbors, who have fought three wars against each other since becoming independent nations in 1947. The geopolitical friction means they sadly rarely play each other in cricket with bilaterals non-existent for over a decade and likely to be on pause indefinitely.

But the scarcity does fuel anticipation every time they do meet and a new chapter will be written when the foes play in New York on June 9.

Tickets will not be cheap for this historic event after the event’s public ballot opened with the seven-day window closing on February 7.

A standard ticket for the India-Pakistan match in New York will cost $175, while the standard plus is priced at $300 and premium rises to $400.

The International Cricket Council said the ballot was not a first-come, first-served system. Any remaining tickets not reserved in the ballot will go on general sale from February 22, but these will be sold on a first come, first served basis.

It is almost certain that the India-Pakistan blockbuster will be a sell-out in a clear indication that it is the hottest ticket of the tournament. The match will be played at the 34,000-seat modular stadium in Eisenhower Park, which is 30 miles east of Manhattan.

The first glimpse of Nassau County Stadium was revealed last month with the venue to host eight matches in cricket’s marquee event of the year. There is set to be just one warm-up game in late May before the ground’s first match on June 3 between South Africa and Sri Lanka.

New York’s slate of games will end when U.S. – competing in their first World Cup of any format – faces a formidable challenge against India on June 12 before the tournament’s latter stages is exclusively played in the Caribbean. Other matches in the U.S. will be held in Texas and Florida.

The T20 World Cup will be the culmination of a major recent push for the sport into the U.S. after so much pondering and failed attempts over many years previously.

Backed by the deep pockets of South Asian businessmen in Silicon Valley, the lucrative Major League Cricket tournament launched last July and the professional T20 tournament lured many top players in the world.

It was deemed a financial success after posting a profit of $8 million as I first reported in September. Just a few months after the MLC’s first edition, cricket was included in the Los Angeles 2028 Games to end the sport’s over 100-year absence at the Olympics.

And soon cricket’s biggest event of 2024 will be held in New York with coveted tickets undoubtedly going to be snapped up with relish.