Asia Cup 2025: Empty seats in Pakistan-India clash raise eyebrows

DUBAI: The empty seats at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, hosting the most sought-after ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 match between fierce rivals Pakistan and India, have left cricket fans stunned.

As the blockbuster contest got underway at 6:30 PM local time, hundreds of seats and a couple of enclosures were still empty, which is a rare sight in the mouthwatering duel of the two Asian giants.

Their last T20I meeting was in an uncharted territory – the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York – and it was still filled by cricket enthusiasts.

Earlier today, an international news outlet had reported that hundreds of tickets for the fixture were still unsold.

According to a report, several tickets for three stands and one hospitality section of the Dubai International Cricket Stadium were available until Sunday morning on the continental tournament’s official ticketing website.

The price of tickets, still unsold, ranges from $205 to $1,645, including the premium stand, the east and west pavilion stands and numerous hospitality boxes.

Notably, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has yet to issue an official statement on the unsold tickets, and after being approached by the news outlet, said that it will release the ticket sale figures only when the blockbuster contest gets underway.

Meanwhile, local fans blamed the scorching heat in the Gulf region for the unusually slow sale of the Pakistan-India tickets, which normally get sold out in hours if not minutes.

“September is one of the hottest months in this part of the world, with high temperatures and extreme humidity, making it difficult to be outdoors even in the evenings,” Shahid Khan, a Dubai resident, told the news outlet.

“While players may get paid to play in this weather, fans have to spend large amounts of money to purchase tickets. Why would they do that to suffer in the heat?”