Four people were injured after a stampede broke out at Gymkhana grounds following a stampede which happened after massive amount of cricket fans gathered to purchase tickets for the third T20I match between India and Australia.
The third T20I stadium between India and Australia will take place in Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad, on September 25.
Around 3,000 tickets were to be sold offline at the Gymkhana grounds from 10am, for which more than 30,000 fans waited at the ground since early morning.
'No proper arrangements'
Additional commissioner of police (law and order) DS Chauhan, blamed HCA for not making proper arrangements at the venue to maintain the crowd queued up to buy the ticket from the counters which resulted in mad rush. People started pushing and jostling each other which led to this situation.
“This led to a stampede-like situation. Some of the people, including a woman, fell unconscious in the melee. We immediately rushed them to a corporate hospital nearby and they are out of danger,” Chauhan said.
Fans had been visiting the HCA office to precure tickets since Wednesday morning because the sale of tickets could not be done online due to breakdown of servers.
Chauhan said they will inquire into the lapses of the HCA and issue notices to the management and call them for questioning. "Stringent action would be taken against them, if there were any lapses," he said.
Kohli disappoints again
Coming to the first T20I at Mohali, after being put to bat first by Australia, India lost skipper Rohit Sharma (11) and Virat Kohli (2) for cheap scores. This left Men in Blue struggling at 35/2. KL Rahul (55) and Suryakumar Yadav (46) then stabilised the innings with a 68-run stand.
Then, Hardik Pandya played a brilliant knock of 71* off just 30 balls with seven fours and five sixes to finish the innings at 208/6.
Pacers Nathan Ellis (3/30) and Josh Hazlewood (2/39) were the most successful Aussie bowlers.
Chasing 209, openers Aaron Finch (22) and Cameron Green stitched a quickfire 39-run stand to get Australia off to a solid start. Green played some really impressive strokes and stitched a 70-run stand with Steve Smith (35). Green was dismissed for an impressive 61 off 30 balls.
Following this, Men in Blue made a comeback to the match, getting wickets of Smith, Glenn Maxwell (1) and Josh Inglis (17) within a space of just 36 runs.
Green, Wade see Australia through
But wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Wade (45*) and debutant Tim David (18) stitched a 62-run stand to help the Aussies win the match by four wickets, finishing the innings at 211/6.
Cameron Green was adjudged as 'Man of the Match' for his 61 and 1/46.
The second T20I match will take place on Friday in Nagpur at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.
