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[PICTURES/VIDEO] The return of Test cricket in Pakistan - Marketing/Crowd watch

Theo_14

Theo_14

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With just 2 days left till Pakistan holds its first home test match you would think the marketing team would be busy in promoting the match.

However through local knowledge and self observations, I have had locals (die hard cricket fans) being totally unaware of the test match taking place in Pindi. I’ve seen fans on twitter tweet complaints about ticket sites/phone line not providing clarifications as to why not all enclosures are available.

PCB’s very own official twitter account has only just posted details of where to purchase the tickets with one fan replying “why is this being posted just 2 days before the match” another posting “tried calling and ticket department are saying we have not received the bulk of tickets to sell.”

I have seen no promotion or effort from PCB at all; seems like a low tier league like PSL is the only thing they give effort to.

PCB should have released videos of former players sharing their experience of playing test cricket in Pakistan, PCB should have promoted videos/montages online, distributed leaflets or tickets to colleges, universities and schools; along with an engagement programme with players. There should be free entries during certain times as well.

Either PCB are keeping things lowkey due to security reasons OR PCB are being PCB which is incompetent and unprofessional.

I know test cricket is dying at sub continent level but for Pakistan, the situation is different; we are seeing test cricket after a decade.

Lets keep this thread to monitor the crowd and marketing.
 
The ticket prices are extremely low as well. £0.25 for Shoaib Akhtar enclosure
 
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minamino said:
The ticket prices are extremely low as well. £0.25 for Shoaib Akhtar enclosure
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Shoaib Akhtar does not have seats though so for families to stand up is ideal esp for test cricket.
 
Fans are being turned back from TCS outlets as only about 20 tickets are able to be issued each day as retailers have only been provided very limited tickets to sell. Ridiculous mismanagement.
 
Sher Khan said:
Fans are being turned back from TCS outlets as only about 20 tickets are able to be issued each day as retailers have only been provided very limited tickets to sell. Ridiculous mismanagement.
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What do you expect from the PCB anyway :))

They had all this time for this series and knew it will be happening since what 2 weeks now and still they did zero marketing at all.
 
I-9 branch (TCS headoffice) is being issued a lot of tickets, those who want to watch the games can go there. Other branches like G-8 and Abpara are being issued 50-60 tickets daily. Some branches in Pindi will also have tickets but there would be extremely long queues. So reach I-9 branch by 10 am tomorrow. Try to buy tickets for day 4 and 5 as there is a high chance of rain on 12th and 13th Decemeber.
 
Unfortunately this has never been a strength of Asian nations, they have zero idea how to market Test Cricket. And then they complain of empty seats.
 
SensiblePakFan said:
Unfortunately this has never been a strength of Asian nations, they have zero idea how to market Test Cricket. And then they complain of empty seats.
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Er , during the mid 2000 tour of Aus to India , the first day of test match was declared holiday in schools in Chennai, teachers were surprised too as it was in newspapers on that day and not before so yeah .

The reason for empty stadium is because of playing it in tier 2 towns, thats why in future in India tests might be played only in major cities that might have people that don’t want to work 9-5 on that day and watch test cricket which cannot be expected from smaller cities.
 
Ehsan Mani: "We haven't had much time to do the marketing for this (Rawalpindi test) but going forward we're going to be working very hard to ensure that we can get young people in with the schools and college students, support them to come at little or no cost, give them exposure to cricket."
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Strange comment.

The series has been in PCB's plans for quite a while.

No excuses.
 
It's been pathetic.

They haven't sold tickets of any other enclosure apart from Akhtar's.

And that section has NO seats. All concrete. Reserved everything else for VIPs.


Sean143 said:
I-9 branch (TCS headoffice) is being issued a lot of tickets, those who want to watch the games can go there. Other branches like G-8 and Abpara are being issued 50-60 tickets daily. Some branches in Pindi will also have tickets but there would be extremely long queues. So reach I-9 branch by 10 am tomorrow. Try to buy tickets for day 4 and 5 as there is a high chance of rain on 12th and 13th Decemeber.
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Did you get any other enclosure tickets there?
 
maybe they want it to be a safe series, from any evil eyes/occurances... (not saying i endorse or believe that pow)... when no one will come to watch and zero attention will be given, they will celebrate having a safe tour...
 
The PCB and all of our commentators have always said that the people back home are starved of Test cricket and are desperate for cricket to return.

This will make them look less credible.
 
Just checked and not a single tweet from Wasim Akram about Test cricket returning. There has been no hype created at all.
 
AFM said:
Just checked and not a single tweet from Wasim Akram about Test cricket returning. There has been no hype created at all.
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Looks like the PCB is intentionally keeping this one low key.

They don't want too much attention. Sec issues.
 
Steadily building up especially the Akhtar enclosure. I know for a fact that it was extremely difficult to get hold of tickets for the other enclosures due to bizarre reasons.

But even India would fill up their stadiums on days like this and here you have cricket after 15 years in Pindi.
 
Looking at the crowd Pak was probably better off playing in UAE. We get more crowd in our annual society premier league where fat uncles play with plastic ball and made in China bat .
 
TDKMZ2s.png
 
Really sad to see this humoungus effort by PCB is not being reciprocated by Pak awam.
 
Sean143 said:
I-9 branch (TCS headoffice) is being issued a lot of tickets, those who want to watch the games can go there. Other branches like G-8 and Abpara are being issued 50-60 tickets daily. Some branches in Pindi will also have tickets but there would be extremely long queues. So reach I-9 branch by 10 am tomorrow. Try to buy tickets for day 4 and 5 as there is a high chance of rain on 12th and 13th Decemeber.
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I live in I-8. I will try to attend it on friday. Hoping that I'd get a seat by then.
 
Crowd will eventually come to support you if you perform. Who wants to come to see the mediocre srilanka bashing Pak bowlers in the 1st session without losing any wickets? Let your work talk and crowd will always be there to support you. There's no point in talking about marketing efforts if the team is not living up to the expectations of the crowd even in your home grounds.
 
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<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/378725803" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/378725803">SSA takes wicket in Pindi</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user98619008">Green Man</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Shaheen Shah Afridi's first wicket on home soil and this crowd reaction!
 
It was not easy getting tickets. They only sold shoaib akhtar stand tixkets at tcs office. Other stands were distributed to schools.

Security is very tight. Cant park cars or bikes. Take long walks and no food to vuy as all eatries are closed. And even rentery is abit difficukt.

Yet there is a good crowd. Could had been jammed pack if they sold the tickets properly
 
Hyperion66 said:
Really sad to see this humoungus effort by PCB is not being reciprocated by Pak awam.
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Bro you have no idea peiple were fighting for tixkets. Problem was only one stand was sold to genrral public and im currently seated at that stand its jammed pack even though u cant buy any lunch or anything from anywhwre.


Other stands are not full cause those tickets were not sold tk public they were given to sponsor families schools and such
 
Well done by the PCB, instead of offering free tickets like in the uae they price them at 50 so people are incentivized by the low price, smart.
 
Major said:
Bro you have no idea peiple were fighting for tixkets. Problem was only one stand was sold to genrral public and im currently seated at that stand its jammed pack even though u cant buy any lunch or anything from anywhwre.


Other stands are not full cause those tickets were not sold tk public they were given to sponsor families schools and such
Click to expand...

How long do you have to walk? And where do you park cars?
 
SensiblePakFan said:
Well done by the PCB, instead of offering free tickets like in the uae they price them at 50 so people are incentivized by the low price, smart.
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Umm, they have sold only the seat-less enclosure to the general public, and for 50. rs.

People are doing nothing but standing without food, water. Even 50 rs is a lot for what they're enduring.
 
Good crowd build up as of now.

PCB and administration have created massive hurdles for the fans to reach the stadium. Not even selling tickets apart from one stand.

Yet a decent crowd.

Let's see if it's there on all the 5 days.
 
AamchiMumbaikar said:
Decent crowd. Better than UAE where there will be only groundsmen and their dogs :facepalm:
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Going to get better on day 3. Not only will the Test be more exciting by then but also the fact that Friday, Saturday and Sunday will leave more people free.
 
What a special moment it must have been for the players who have been playing Test cricket for quite some years now like Asad, Azhar and Yasir.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A message to the cricketing world from a Pakistan fan in Rawalpindi today <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAKvSL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PAKvSL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/1pzZPnOmK7">pic.twitter.com/1pzZPnOmK7</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1204758213981278209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Decent crowd, but disappointed that it was not a sell out considering this is the first test in pakistan in over a decade.
Also, why is pakistan playing cricket in the middle of winter?
The crowd look cold and from post above, there was no food or drinks avaliable to the crowd. Was there rest room facilities available for the spectators?
Really poor from pcb, do they expect fans to put up with this substandard treatment?
I can see empty uae style grounds in the future if this sort of substandard service continues by the pcb.
 
Captain caveman said:
Decent crowd, but disappointed that it was not a sell out considering this is the first test in pakistan in over a decade.
Also, why is pakistan playing cricket in the middle of winter?
The crowd look cold and from post above, there was no food or drinks avaliable to the crowd. Was there rest room facilities available for the spectators?
Really poor from pcb, do they expect fans to put up with this substandard treatment?
I can see empty uae style grounds in the future if this sort of substandard service continues by the pcb.
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It's great that it was this full, shows that people wanted to come. Would have been a full house if PCB had actually put effort into getting people there, like making the tickets available.
 
Captain caveman said:
Decent crowd, but disappointed that it was not a sell out considering this is the first test in pakistan in over a decade.
Also, why is pakistan playing cricket in the middle of winter?
The crowd look cold and from post above, there was no food or drinks avaliable to the crowd. Was there rest room facilities available for the spectators?
Really poor from pcb, do they expect fans to put up with this substandard treatment?
I can see empty uae style grounds in the future if this sort of substandard service continues by the pcb.
Click to expand...

PCB is treating ordinary fans like donkeys.

First, they reserve the tickets of decent enclosures for the VIPs / their personal contacts. They're not even being sold. Those enclosures have seats.

They only opened the concrete stairs for the general public. You can't sit. Either stand or sit on the dirty concrete.

No food. No drinks. No restrooms/bathrooms.
 
Its really nice to see test cricket return to Pakistan, congratulations to all the Pakistanis that waited so long esp the young ones who haven’t seen matches in their home country.
 
Hawkeye said:
PCB is treating ordinary fans like donkeys.

First, they reserve the tickets of decent enclosures for the VIPs / their personal contacts. They're not even being sold. Those enclosures have seats.

They only opened the concrete stairs for the general public. You can't sit. Either stand or sit on the dirty concrete.

No food. No drinks. No restrooms/bathrooms.
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Thats disgusting!
Pcb are obviously only interested in the tv money for the test and not botheed about the fans.
I can only suggest to fans to watch the match on tv(if theres no load shedding) and dont go to the ground, maybe the pcb may get embarrassed with the empty stadiums and treat the fans with respect.
 
Hawkeye said:
PCB is treating ordinary fans like donkeys.

First, they reserve the tickets of decent enclosures for the VIPs / their personal contacts. They're not even being sold. Those enclosures have seats.

They only opened the concrete stairs for the general public. You can't sit. Either stand or sit on the dirty concrete.

No food. No drinks. No restrooms/bathrooms.
Click to expand...

I attended the first day and you are wrong pretty much on all counts.

Fans were allowed to sit anywhere they wanted as the gates to the enclosures with seats were opened by the second session.

There may not have been actual food because of the small size of the stadium but you could buy Lays, Kurkure Biscuits, Nimko, Tea. Cold drinks were readily available. And there is no issue of bathrooms. There are a number of them next to nearly every gate.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
I attended the first day and you are wrong pretty much on all counts.

Fans were allowed to sit anywhere they wanted as the gates to the enclosures with seats were opened by the second session.

There may not have been actual food because of the small size of the stadium but you could buy Lays, Kurkure Biscuits, Nimko, Tea. Cold drinks were readily available. And there is no issue of bathrooms. There are a number of them next to nearly every gate.
Click to expand...

You guys have kurkure too didn’t know just googled ,pepsico the parent company no wonder similar taste buds but i see some different flavors which are similar to Lays ones.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
I attended the first day and you are wrong pretty much on all counts.

Fans were allowed to sit anywhere they wanted as the gates to the enclosures with seats were opened by the second session.

There may not have been actual food because of the small size of the stadium but you could buy Lays, Kurkure Biscuits, Nimko, Tea. Cold drinks were readily available. And there is no issue of bathrooms. There are a number of them next to nearly every gate.
Click to expand...

Good to know that those snacks were available.

If the enclosures were also opened, then that's good. But they only did it because the stands were deserted in the 1st session and no VIPs + their contacts came to fill those seats.

Should have sold those tickets.
 
As someone who was in the crowd I really enjoyed myself. Firstly I never expected this kind of a crowd to turn out for a test match in Rawalpindi. Traditionally teams like England and India have played tests here to empty seats.

The crowd was pretty active. Oftentimes they would start cheering Babar, Babar. There was a moment during the lunch break when Fawad Alam was doing fielding drills and the crowd really cheered him on and he acknowledged it with a wave.

If there's anyone I felt bad for it was Imam-ul-Haq. Whenever Imam came on the field, whether it was as a substitute fielder, to bring drinks or when he himself was doing fielding drills the crowd would start chanting ******! ******! in the most boisterous way possible. During the fielding drills the sound got so loud that fielding coach Grant Bradburn signaled us to dial it down a bit.

Later Rizwan was forced to make a similar gesture when Imam was on as a substitute fielder and the crowd was chanting ****** ****** again.
 
Major said:
Bro you have no idea peiple were fighting for tixkets. Problem was only one stand was sold to genrral public and im currently seated at that stand its jammed pack even though u cant buy any lunch or anything from anywhwre.


Other stands are not full cause those tickets were not sold tk public they were given to sponsor families schools and such
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information bhai. I have made that comment without proper research, I feel bad now. Sorry if I have hurt sentiments.
 
Great to see them open the seated stands to everyone, saw a video seeing everyone rushing to that section, great to see the passion back in pindi after 15 years.
 
Really happy that real cricket is back in Pakistan. The crowd was great atmosphere was great. The pitch was very good especially as compared to UAE pitces but what was wrong with the ground why it was so brown or yellow didn't looked good at all.
 
I told y’all pindi wont disappoint pindi boys turned up today what an atmosphere so nostalgic alhumdulliah for the return of cricket in Pakistan and I hope it continues like this for centuries to come
 
JaDed said:
You guys have kurkure too didn’t know just googled ,pepsico the parent company no wonder similar taste buds but i see some different flavors which are similar to Lays ones.
Click to expand...

I am more surprised how could someone last on snacks for so long
 
Abdullah719 said:
Is that fullish one the Akhtar enclosure?

What's the deal with the tickets for the other stands? [MENTION=141922]ExpressPacer[/MENTION]
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Not sure bro. I didnt end up going yesterday. I'm going to go on the 5th day most likely.

As for the tickets, I'm not sure. I'm friends with the commissioner who knows I'm an avid cricket fan. He sent me passes for the Miandad enclosure without me asking for them. However, from what I read on Google, tickets for the Miandad enclosure were available.
 
After arrival of PCB’s new management and seasoned journalist Sami-ul-Hasan as Media Director, it was hoped that the board’s mafia would be dealt strictly and sports journalists would be given their due rights while fake sports journalists would be shown the doors. But the things were not managed as expected, as prior to start of the game, irrelevant persons were handed accreditation cards and many genuine sports journalists were deprived of their right to cover the event.

The media centre of the stadium was presenting the look of fish market, as irrelevant persons were making noise and disturbing the genuine local and international journalists, who were doing their official duties. The situation became so worst that the foreigners especially Sri Lankan journalists stood up from their chairs, hit their desks and requested the irrelevant persons to let them perform their duties peacefully. The internet at the media centre was also not working, which forced Lankan journalists to leave for their hotels to complete their tasks. The issues remained unattended till the stumps, as there was no one to manage these things.

https://nation.com.pk/12-Dec-2019/mismanagement-mars-opening-day
 
Great pics. Well done PCB.

Its great to play (and watch) test cricket at your home.
 
MenInG said:
After arrival of PCB’s new management and seasoned journalist Sami-ul-Hasan as Media Director, it was hoped that the board’s mafia would be dealt strictly and sports journalists would be given their due rights while fake sports journalists would be shown the doors. But the things were not managed as expected, as prior to start of the game, irrelevant persons were handed accreditation cards and many genuine sports journalists were deprived of their right to cover the event.

The media centre of the stadium was presenting the look of fish market, as irrelevant persons were making noise and disturbing the genuine local and international journalists, who were doing their official duties. The situation became so worst that the foreigners especially Sri Lankan journalists stood up from their chairs, hit their desks and requested the irrelevant persons to let them perform their duties peacefully. The internet at the media centre was also not working, which forced Lankan journalists to leave for their hotels to complete their tasks. The issues remained unattended till the stumps, as there was no one to manage these things.

https://nation.com.pk/12-Dec-2019/mismanagement-mars-opening-day
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Awful stuff.

After 10 years you would have thought they would at least get this bit right.
 
Pakistan should not host and series let alone tours until they get the basic facilities in place for players and spectators.
 
Saj said:
Awful stuff.

After 10 years you would have thought they would at least get this bit right.
Click to expand...

Well this is sad.. this is the most easiest part for you guys to manage... what is Wasim khan doing??
 
Hawkeye said:
PCB is treating ordinary fans like donkeys.

First, they reserve the tickets of decent enclosures for the VIPs / their personal contacts. They're not even being sold. Those enclosures have seats.

They only opened the concrete stairs for the general public. You can't sit. Either stand or sit on the dirty concrete.

No food. No drinks. No restrooms/bathrooms.
Click to expand...

This is terrible, how does a Test match audience suppose to endure this ? Reminds of Chepauk(Chennai) stadium before the renovation.
 
Nice noise from the crowd - good to hear.
 
I'm guessing and hoping things will be better organised in Karachi?
 
MenInG said:
After arrival of PCB’s new management and seasoned journalist Sami-ul-Hasan as Media Director, it was hoped that the board’s mafia would be dealt strictly and sports journalists would be given their due rights while fake sports journalists would be shown the doors. But the things were not managed as expected, as prior to start of the game, irrelevant persons were handed accreditation cards and many genuine sports journalists were deprived of their right to cover the event.

The media centre of the stadium was presenting the look of fish market, as irrelevant persons were making noise and disturbing the genuine local and international journalists, who were doing their official duties. The situation became so worst that the foreigners especially Sri Lankan journalists stood up from their chairs, hit their desks and requested the irrelevant persons to let them perform their duties peacefully. The internet at the media centre was also not working, which forced Lankan journalists to leave for their hotels to complete their tasks. The issues remained unattended till the stumps, as there was no one to manage these things.

https://nation.com.pk/12-Dec-2019/mismanagement-mars-opening-day
Click to expand...

It seems PCB is not at all serious in resuming the cricket back in Pakistan. The management changes but the result and outcome are identical.
 
Beautifully scenes.

One cannot imagine how many things the players and fans have missed out for so many years.

I hope we host an ICC tournament in the next five-eight years
 
from empty blue chairs of emirates to packed pakistani stadiums.. Quite a journey this is which seemed impossible few years back. but we've come a loooong way.. Alhamdullilah
 
Mueez said:
Beautifully scenes.

One cannot imagine how many things the players and fans have missed out for so many years.

I hope we host an ICC tournament in the next five-eight years
Click to expand...

Beautiful*
 
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