India vs New Zealand: Soaring ticket demand forces NZC to throw open tier unused for 7 years

Over 50,000 tickets have been sold in the first week of sales for India’s upcoming tour of New Zealand, the latter nation’s cricket board said on Wednesday. The tickets opened for public on Monday after a two-week pre-sale window “for Cricket Nation members, Sky customers, and ANZ customers, with several matches on track to sell out, including the second T20I against India in Christchurch which sits at 75% sold out.”

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) further said that the sixth tier of seating at Eden Park in Auckland, which will host the fourth T20I on October 30 and first ODI on November 4, has been opened for the tour for the first time since 2019. The last time it was used was also for a match against India in 2019. “High demand at Eden Park has required the stadium’s sixth tier of seating to open for the first time since the 2019 India tour of New Zealand, with the upper level available for the fourth T20I against India on Friday 30 October,” said NZC.

“The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2015 and a men’s T20I against Australia in 2018 are the only other times in recent history that the sixth tier has opened up, signalling huge anticipation for the re-match between this year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup finalists.”

India embark on a full tour of New Zealand which will start with a five-match T20I series on October 22. The first and second T20Is will be played at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, with the latter match scheduled for October 24, followed by the third T20I at the Sky Stadium in Wellington on October 27. The fourth T20I will be played on October 30 at Eden Park and the series ends on November 1 at Seddon Park in Hamilton.

The tour will then return to Eden Park for the first ODI on November 4, and then to Wellington on November 7 for the second ODI. The third ODI will be hosted in Hamilton on November 10 after which the fourth and fifth ODIs will be held at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on November 13 and 15th. The first Test will then be played from November 19 in Wellington and the tour ends with the second Test from November 27 in Christchurch.

NZC’s Head of Marketing Tim Ellis said that the board is “deep into planning for a number of events surrounding the tour and have some exciting at-game activations in the works”.

“Being able to open up the top level of Eden Park for the first time in years is really exciting and speaks to the swell of excitement building around the tour,” he said.

“Matches at Hagley Oval (which will host the first two T20Is and the second Test) have always been well attended but to have one of them over three quarters sold already is quite remarkable.”