Mumbaiites get set to travel with Team India

The good news is that the tickets for the 2011 Cricket World Cup are about 20 times cheaper than those for the 2007 World Cup hosted by the West Indies.

The bad news is that most of the India matches are sold out.

Nonetheless, for as little as Rs 100, you can still get a ticket for some of the first round matches, provided you don’t mind watching some of the non-Test playing nations. After all, anything is possible. Remember the 2003 World Cup, when Kenya made it to the semi-finals?

There are also still tickets up for grabs for some exciting matches not including India, such as South Africa v England in Chennai on March 6 and Australia v New Zealand in Nagpur on Feb 25.

Prepared, of course, that you are willing to travel to these cities just for the match. A number of Mumbaiites are.

“I have a group of 18 cricket-crazy friends and we’re all planning to go watch the Nagpur match,” says accounting student Rahul Nagrajan, 21. “We’ll be hiring a bus to drive down there, so it’ll be a fun road trip too. And we’re all buying team jerseys for the occasion.”

Others are hoping to be so lucky.

“I was hoping to get tickets to

the game between India and South Africa in Nagpur but all the good tickets were sold out in days,” said

media professional Tushar Abhichandani, 25.

Yet others are hoping to take advantage of the confusion caused by Eden Gardens, Kolkata, being ruled unfit by the ICC. With the venue for the India v Ireland game on March 6 now shifted to Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium, there are now a few tickets up for grabs.

“I am trying to get tickets for this match, since it’s on a weekend,” said Mumbai software engineer Hatim Baheranwala, 25. “I don’t mind flying to Bangalore for the day. It will be worth it just to watch India play a World Cup match.”

Tickets can be bought online through official ticketing partner KyaZoonga (www.kyazoonga.com) and at retail outlets of ICC Cricket World Cup sponsors Reebok, Hero Honda and money transfer company MoneyGram.

Stay informed about deals on available tickets and tickets up for auction via www.showtimeticket.com and www.viagogo.com.

Remember, tickets for the semi-finals in Mohali and the finals in Mumbai are not on sale yet, so keep tracking these websites.