Kohli’s 100th Test: Tickets nearly sold out; Virat’s family, including mother expected to watch from the stadium

“Tickets of all the blocks including the chair blocks and VIP stands apart from AC Lounge and Pavilion Terraces have been sold out except 200 tickets for South block. We have kept those tickets for students if they want to watch and they can buy them when the online window opens. We are glad that Virat Kohli’s 100th Test match will see a full 50 percent capacity and we will follow the Covid-19 guidelines. The Punjab Police has been cooperating with us in ensuring the Covid-19 guidelines,” said RP Singla, secretary while speaking with The Indian Express.

Kohli’s mother Saroj Kohli along with wife Anushka Sharma and daughter Vamika will also be present to watch the historic Test match from one of the boxes, a PCA official informed. PCA also was in touch with the BCCI on how to get a silver plaque to be given to Kohli marking the feat.

🚨 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘁 🚨

We get up, close and personal with @imVkohli as he is all set to play his 1⃣0⃣0⃣th Test tomorrow at Mohali. 👏 👏 #TeamIndia | #VK100 | #INDvSL | @Paytm

Watch the full interview 🎥 🔽https://t.co/IwTW6nZ1ds pic.twitter.com/p6F7ltviCW

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 3, 2022

The stadium has hosted a total of 13 Test matches, 25 ODI’s and five T20I with the last match being the India South Africa T20I in September, 2019. While the 27,000 capacity stadium offers 8,000 VIP block seats now reduced to 4,000 due to the 50 percent cap, the stadium has a total of 2700 terrace block seats with 1350 available for this week’s Test match and a total of 500 seats for Enclosure and AC Lounge, which too has been reduced to 250 this time.

The chair block seats have been reduced from 10,000 to 5000 and the cheapest Rs 300 tickets for the chair block gates were first to fill on Wednesday apart from the Rs 1,000 priced North Pavillion block and VIP Block tickets.

'I never thought i'll play 100 Test matches. It has been a long journey. Grateful that i've been able to make it to 100' – @imVkohli on his landmark Test.

Full interview coming up on https://t.co/Z3MPyesSeZ. Stay tuned! #VK100 pic.twitter.com/SFehIolPwb

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 3, 2022

The fan’s most favourite, the Open Terrace Block enclosure too, was among the first blocks to be sold out. “We got the intimation of allowing fans on Tuesday evening and within one day, we were ready with the arrangements and seating plan for the historic Test match. Fans always enjoy watching matches at PCA due to the view from chair blocks apart from the pavilion terrace and AC Lounge and boxes, which have seen the likes of bollywood actors including Aamir Khan enjoying the matches. I am sure the fans will come to watch on all the days of the Test match and will make every day of the Test match memorable for Virat Kohli,” said Deepak Sharma, CEO, PCA.

While the PCA issued season tickets for all the ten blocks, fans were seen having a tough time getting the tickets from the online counters set up outside the stadium. While the ticket counters opened at 2 pm, the counters ran out of tickets multiple times with the officials waiting for printed tickets to arrive. “Firstly, the decision was announced two days ago. We understand the Covid-19 protocols but why do the fans have to collect the tickets when the e-tickets can be scanned electronically over the phone. We had to wait for two hours as the tickets were out of print and once they got the tickets from the printer, we were happy to get the tickets for this historic match,” said Yash Kumawat, a Bikaner native who has come to watch the match.