LAHORE: The cricket-crazy fans wasted no time in buying the tickets for some of the most favourite matches of next month’s Champions Trophy -- India vs Pakistan and England vs Australia.

The high-profile ICC event is scheduled to be staged in England and Wales from June 1 to 18.

According to a press release issued by the ICC, the fans of Indians team showed maximum craze as all its matches, including the one against Pakistan on June 4, have been sold out.

“All India matches, all but one England match sold out as over 15,000 tickets sold in one week,” the ICC stated. “Remaining tickets available on www.icc-cricket.com/tickets and over 15,000 tickets have been sold over the past one week for the Champions Trophy 2017.

“This means that eight out of the 15 fixtures are now sold out and that ticket sales at this stage has already exceeded those for the ICC Champions Trophy 2013, which was also held at the three venues being used this time – Cardiff Wales Stadium, Edgbaston and The Oval,” the ICC added.

“It also takes ticket applications to beyond 500,000 from 60 countries, since the ballot last September.

“For England fans, limited tickets remain for the game against New Zealand in Cardiff on June 6 but the matches against Bangladesh on June 1 and arch-rivals Australia on June 10 are sell-outs. All the matches involving defending champions India, as well as the semi-finals and final are also sold out.

“Predictably, there was huge demand for the India v Pakistan, England v Australia and the Champions Trophy final at The Oval on June 18 -- all of which were oversubscribed across every price band,” the ICC said.

In addition, the ICC is giving fans the chance to win tickets to ‘money-can’t-buy matches’ through its ‘heroes to champions’ competition, with fans nominating local heroes.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2017