India-Pakistan T20 World Cup 2026 (Source:@cricmawa,x.com)
In a significant development, the second phase of ticket sales for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 opened on Wednesday evening. Demand for the high-profile India vs Pakistan match caused the ticketing platform to crash within minutes.
The much-awaited clash is scheduled to take place on February 15 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo and is widely regarded as the most sought-after fixture of the tournament.
Platform goes down amid technical difficulties
Ticket sales went live at 7 pm through the ICC's official ticketing partner, BookMyShow. However, within minutes, fans flooded the platform in an attempt to secure seats for the marquee encounter.
The sudden surge in traffic caused server overload, preventing users from completing transactions and leading to long wait times and failed bookings.
The volume of simultaneous logins and booking attempts caused BookMyShow's servers to crash. Several users reported being logged out repeatedly or facing frozen screens during payment. A message citing 'temporary technical difficulties' was later displayed on the platform.
The ticketing agent announced that sales would restart at 9 pm, but even after the relaunch, tickets for the India–Pakistan match were still unavailable. Instead, fans were met with a coming soon message.
Demand for IND-PAK clash crashes ticketing platform
A source quoted by PTI stated that the extraordinary demand was almost entirely around the India–Pakistan fixture.
"Several users reported failed transactions and long waiting times. The volume of concurrent requests caused the platform's servers to crash," a source told the agency.
To make the tournament accessible to fans, the ICC has introduced record-low ticket prices, starting at Rs 100 in India and LKR 1000 in SL.
Sri Lanka will be hosting the Men's T20 World Cup for the second time, having last staged the event in 2012. Despite the technical issues, the massive rush for tickets has once again highlighted the excitement and passion surrounding the India-Pakistan rivalry.
Tournament Returns to Subcontinent After a Decade
The ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8. This marks the tournament’s return to the subcontinent for the first time since 2016.
India will be defending their title after winning the previous edition in 2024, which was held in the USA and the West Indies.
The tournament will kick off with multiple matches on the opening day. India will begin their campaign against the USA at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, while Pakistan will face the Netherlands in Colombo. The West Indies will also be in action, taking on Bangladesh in Kolkata.
India and Pakistan have been drawn together in Group A, along with Namibia, the Netherlands, and the USA.
India's group-stage matches include games against Namibia in Delhi on February 12 and the Netherlands in Ahmedabad, in addition to the highly anticipated Pakistan encounter.
Pakistan will play all their group matches in Colombo, facing the USA on February 10 and Namibia later in the group stage.
