Police lathicharge mob in Kolkata as KKR-Pune match tickets sell out

Tickets for the marquee IPL clash between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sourav Ganguly-led Pune Warriors India were sold out within an hour at the Mohammedan Sporting ground as it resembled a battlefield with police resorting to 'lathicharge' to control the situation.

More than 10,000 cricket lovers queued up at the counter since late last night to get hold of the few available tickets after the online quota was sold out, the police said.

Sourav Ganguly is still a big draw in Kolkata.

But many left disappointed with tickets being sold out within an hour's time as the angry crowd damaged the club counters.

The police had to resort to lathicharge to bring the situation under control and the Red Road had to be blocked for about an hour, said an eyewitness.

Police however denied lathicarge and said, "There were some resentment from the crowd but we could bring the situation under control."

A cricket fan who claimed to have queued at the counter since 2 am early morning, claimed: "Many police officials used their influence to procure tickets from back doors. How can the tickets vanished within 30 minutes?"

The police, meanwhile, assured to make available 2,000 tickets from the counters on Monday.

But Kolkata Knight Riders did not respond to the development with repeated attempts to reach team CEO Venky Mysore going in vain.