Staff Correspondent

The chaos surrounding ticket sales had already begun on Sunday. Ticket seekers even staged a protest against what they called the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) 'negligence' regarding ticket distribution.

However, everything escalated on the opening day of the Bangladsh Premier League (BPL) on Monday.

Frustrated over not getting tickets, agitated fans broke down Gate 2 of the stadium. They even blocked the personal car of Khulna Tigers’ captain, Mehidy Hasan.

On Sunday afternoon, the BCB had announced that tickets would not be available at the booths near the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. Instead, they could be purchased online at www.gobcbticket.com.bd and from designated branches of Modhumoti Bank.

Disappointed fans, unable to secure tickets at these branches, became unruly.

As a result of the damage to Gate 2, team buses could not enter through that gate today.

The team bus of Durbar Rajshahi had to enter the ground through Gate 4.

To control the situation, the police eventually resorted to using batons. The situation has since calmed significantly.

"We have received an unprecedented response for the tickets. We started online initially. I want to say one thing to all of you—any new system will have some initial issues. Please be patient. Don’t listen to any rumors. After seven days, everyone will understand and benefit from it," BCB president Faruque Ahmed said when his attention was drawn to the matter.

"We must also remember one important thing—Dhaka, a city of 20 million people, has a stadium capacity of only 22-25 thousand. It’s not possible to accommodate everyone here. Those of you purchasing tickets online or in queues, please do so in an organized manner. This is the kind of Bangladesh we want to see," he added.

Until Sunday afternoon, the BCB had not disclosed where tickets would be available or their prices. As it was the day before the tournament, many fans showed up at the ticket booths of the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in the morning to buy tickets.

However, finding the booths closed, they started protesting and marching. At one point, angry fans forcibly opened Gate 2 of the stadium and entered the complex.

Later, by the afternoon, the BCB issued a press release providing details about the tickets.

Ticket prices ranged from a minimum of 200 BDT to a maximum of 2,000 BDT. Tickets could be purchased online and from seven branches of Modhumoti Bank: Mirpur 11, Motijheel, Uttara Jasimuddin, Gulshan, Dhanmondi, Kamrangirchar, and VIP Road in Paltan. Ticket sales at the bank branches began at 4 PM yesterday and continued until 7 PM.

Sales resumed today at 10 AM.