India-Pakistan 2027 World Cup match draws 84 million ticket requests for 34,000-capacity stadium

Virat Kohli shakes hands with Pakistan’s Shadab Khan after the T20 World Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan in Melbourne, Australia. AP/PTI There have been 8.4 million ticket requests for the India-Pakistan ODI World Cup match in 2027, despite the match being scheduled at a venue that can only hold 34,000 spectators. The match will be played at The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on 10 October and has become the most sought after tournament to date.According to the International Cricket Council (ICC), the match received 8,397,294 applications through the ongoing ticket ballot. The demand significantly exceeds the capacity of the stadium.The World Cup final, which will also take place at the Wanderers Stadium on November 21, received 7,900,944 requests, or almost 79 million, making it the second most searched match to date.Ballot response was high throughout the tournament. The ICC received more than 120 million applications from fans in 193 countries, with 2.8 million unique fans registering their interest in participating in the competition.The 2027 ODI World Cup will be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The opening of the tournament on October 7 will be a repeat of the 2023 final in which Australia beat India in Ahmedabad.India-Pakistan is among the most anticipated cricket matches and one of the highest grossing tournaments. However, India have dominated their recent encounters, winning the last nine encounters. Pakistan’s last win over India came in the 2022 Asia Cup.India and Pakistan are in a group with Australia, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and a qualifier. The second group consists of England, South Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and another qualifier.The top three teams from each group, along with the best fourth-placed team, advance to the Super 7 stage. The top four teams from this stage qualify for the semi-finals.

How the ballot works

Ticket voting is free to enter and fans do not have to make any payment to register.Each person may submit one ballot per match and may submit a ballot for multiple matches within a tournament.The ballot does not operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Fans can register at any time during the voting window and the time of registration will not affect their chances of getting tickets.If the number of applications for a match exceeds the available ticket allocation, successful applicants will be selected through a random voting process.The ICC will communicate the outcome of both successful and unsuccessful applications via the email addresses provided by fans during registration.