India–Pakistan World Cup match draws nearly 8.4 million ticket requests

Nearly 8.4 million ticket requests have been made for India’s group-stage meeting with Pakistan at the 2027 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, according to BBC Sport. The match is scheduled for 10 October at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, where the reported capacity of 34,000 is far below the number of applications received.

Watch the highlights:

Demand is also substantial for the final at the same ground on 21 November, with almost eight million applications reported. Those figures describe ticket requests, rather than confirmed attendance or completed sales. South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will share hosting duties for the tournament, which begins its group stage on 7 October.

The rivalry has recently produced a sustained run of Indian victories despite the scale of interest in the fixture. BBC Sport reported that India have won the teams’ past nine meetings, with Pakistan’s most recent success against them coming at the 2022 Asia Cup. The sides do not meet outside tournaments, according to the broadcaster’s earlier report on the World Cup draw.

That draw placed India and Pakistan alongside defending champions Australia, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and a qualifier. The group-stage opener in Cape Town will bring India and Australia together in a rematch of the 2023 final, which Australia won in Ahmedabad. England’s group contains South Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the other qualifier, keeping England apart from both Australia and India in the opening phase.

In its October draw report, BBC Sport set out England’s route across the three host countries. England are due to face Bangladesh on 8 October and Sri Lanka on 13 October in Windhoek, then South Africa in Gqeberha on 16 October. A match against a qualifier follows in Harare on 20 October, before the group campaign ends against New Zealand in Gqeberha on 23 October.

The competition’s next phase will feature seven teams: the leading three from each group and whichever fourth-placed side has the better record. Four teams will then advance from that Super 7 stage to the semi-finals, scheduled for 17 and 18 November. The title will be decided three days after the second semi-final at the Johannesburg venue already attracting millions of ticket applications.