Despite the historic hype surrounding India-Pakistan cricket encounters, tickets for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025 group-stage clash in Dubai remain unsold more than ten days after going on sale. The match, scheduled for September 14 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, was expected to sell out rapidly, especially given the precedent of the Champions Trophy 2023 at the same venue, which saw all tickets snapped up in under four minutes. Yet, as of Thursday evening, tickets were still up for grabs.
Ticktes in nearly 50 percent of the stands at the Dubai stadium remained available as of 9 pm IST on Thursday. Prices for those available started from USD 99, with premium seats costing USD 4,534 (Rs 4 lakh approximatley).
Ticket sales
began on 29 August through the official partner, Platinumlist. With the base price for group-stage matches of the Asia Cup set at USD 13, lower-priced stands were sold out for the India-Pakistan clash. A special package, which included seven matches with the marquee fixture, was also offered for approximately AED 14,000.
An Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) official expressed surprise at the tepid response, noting that tickets for the previous India-Pakistan Champions Trophy meeting in February had sold out in under four minutes. Another ECB official maintained that "bookings were encouraging" and dismissed concerns about slow sales. Yet, the reality of unsold seats more than 10 days after sales opened marks a stark departure from previous high-profile fixtures.