Bengaluru: Cricket veterans Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath on Thursday learnt for the first time as cricket administrators that ticket sales for a match featuring India can be a googly or a bouncer.
Both virtually threw up their hands as thousands of fans pushed, jostled and braved police cane charge for a ticket for the Feb 27 India-England clash at the Chinnaswamy stadium.
"There is a limit to what we can do. Beyond that we cannot do anything. Unhappy people will say all kinds of things," Srinath told a press meet convened at short notice following the chaotic scenes.
Kumble and Srinath took over as president and secretary, respectively, of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) in November last year.
The India-England clash is the second major international match they would be supervising as cricket administrators.
The first match was India-New Zealand One-day International in December.
But then they had control over all the tickets to the stadium with a capacity to accommodate 50,000 people.
For the World Cup, however, the International Cricket Council and Board of Control for Cricket in India also have a say on the number of tickets each association has at its disposal.
"It is difficult to satisfy everybody and for a match of this magnitude, even if you double (the ticket availability) or triple, it's not enough."
Srinath tried to explain the chaos that reigned outside since Thursday morning with around 7,000 tickets sold out in just three hours.
The counters opened at 8.30 am but hundreds had stayed put at the stadium in the city centre since Wednesday night.
Police estimated that about 30,000 fans had gathered for the tickets. There was no clear prior information to the public on the number of tickets available for them.
The stadium can accommodate around 50,000 people, says the KSCA portal.
"There is a limit till where we can keep people happy. Beyond that unhappy people will always say things which we can't answer," Srinath said referring to the talk that only a 1,000 odd tickets were available for public.
Kumble declined comments on the issue, saying Srinath had already done so.