Online ticketing company KyaZoonga was trending at the top spot on micro-blogging site Twitter on Monday, but for all wrong reasons. The portal of the company, which is the official ticketing partner of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) for the second test series between India and West Indies, crashed immediately after it opened for sale at 11 a.m. The situation did not change till the time this story went to press.

Disgruntled fans of Sachin Tendulkar vented out their anger and frustration on the social networking sites — Twitter and Facebook. The master blaster is set to bid adieu to cricket in his 200{+t}{+h} and final match, which will be played on November 14 at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

@samratna tweeted “KyaZoonga got enough publicity in just one day something they would have not achieved after years efforts. Unfortunately it is all negative.”

Many compared it to the railway ticketing site IRCTC, which apparently people said has done a ‘crash’ course. @BeerOholic said, “KyaZoongais lost (in Kumbh) sibling of IRCTC.”

While the company officials said that the crash was due to an unprecedented traffic, Sachin’s fans blamed the company’s inability to manage such a huge traffic, since the test match is being touted as the most happening event in the history of Indian cricket.

KyaZoonga is allowed to sell only 5,000 tickets for the match and Wankhede’s capacity is 45,000. The tickets are priced at Rs 500, Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,500.

“This is ridiculous. I fail to understand why BCCI has allotted only 3,000 tickets for Sachin’s fans and the remaining to VIPs. A lot of seats will remain empty because those VIPs are not the real fans. This site is not opening. Feeling agitated,” a fan said.

While many abused the site for not being able to manage the traffic, a few fans added a little humour to the situation. One fan said, “The site was not opening as superstar Rajnikanth was booking his tickets.”

Meanwhile, KyaZoonga said in a mail that the site has witnessed record number of hits for Sachin’s farewell match. It clocked 19 million hits within its first hour of ticket sales.

“If this traffic continues to be at these high levels, it could perhaps surpass the momentum witnessed even during past Olympic Games. We apologise for any inconvenience these delays may have caused and congratulate those who will be able to witness this momentous occasion,” the company said in a statement.

However, it was not able to give a clear timeline when the problem would be fixed. It was also not clear if the problem will persist for the next two days.

priyanka.pani@thehindu.co.in

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