World Cup 2023, Ind vs Pak: 'There is more pressure for tickets than match,' says Babar Azam before epic clash

The countdown to the much-awaited epic face-off between India and Pakistan has started. Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team is set to take on Babar Azam’s Pakistan in Match 12 of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on October 14.

Speaking at a pre-match briefing, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said: "There is more pressure for match tickets than match... It is not a pressure match for us. We have played each other a lot of times. We got a lot of support in Hyderabad and we hope the same for Ahmedabad."

Babar Azam has played against India in the past and led Pakistan against India in the big stages. The Pakistani skipper has an average of 57.09 in 107 innings in ODIs, and is one of the best players in this tournament.    

But it could be different in Ahmedabad as the team will be playing in front of a packed Narendra Modi Stadium, which has a capacity of 1,30,000.

Babar on Friday showed confidence that they would win the match against India, leaving all the records suggesting India as a strong team behind.

"I think what has happened in the past is not important. We want to live in present. I think we can do well. India-Pakistan match is high-intensity. Believe in ourselves. There are a lot of fans coming. I think we have an opportunity to do well in front of fans," he further stated.

India and Pakistan have seven times at the World Cup in the past, and India have the golden record of beating Pakistan in each of the match, except one. Pakistan beat India in a World Cup fixture for the first time under Babar's captaincy in the 2021 T20 World Cup meeting in Dubai.

Speaking about the age-old rivalry, Babar said: "In 2021 we beat India in T20 WC. I think we can do that here as well. I have not scored many runs in this World Cup till now and I hope it changes. You need to field well if you want to do well in the World Cup. We are working on it. Fielding is about attitude."

Babar mentioned Pakistan's T20I World Cup win against India and said that they will repeat the same in the ODI World Cup at Ahmedabad.

Big-ticket match

Not just in India and Pakistan, millions of sports fans across the world are gearing up for the match on Saturday.

The BCCI and ICC had organised the first phase of ticket sales for the World Cup in August-September but the additional tickets for big India matches have been going on sale in a phased manner ahead of the big games.

Last week, BCCI had said that they would release 14,000 extra tickets for the high-octane match between India and Pakistan.

Following that, the cricket board on October 11 announced the sale of additional tickets for the match.

The base level tickets of the India vs Pakistan match in the World Cup 2023 were being sold for Rs 2,200, while the lounge and higher level tickets went up for sale at around Rs 15,000.

But as per news reports, the tickets were available for up to Rs 19 lakh on a black market ticket website.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim.