Cuttack, April 24: Cricket fans were in for a big disappointment as the price of gallery tickets for the next Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Barabati Stadium here remained unchanged in spite of a prior announcement that the rates would be slashed to attract a bigger crowd.

A packed Barabati Stadium can accommodate nearly 45,000 spectators and the galleries are the most popular seats.

Spectators were today being charged Rs 600 for tickets for gallery No. 3. But tickets for this gallery, according to a previous announcement by the officials of the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) and Deccan Chargers, were supposed to be sold at Rs 300 for the clash between the Chargers and Pune Warriors India on May 1.

The public sale of tickets for the match began today.

Ticket rates for corporate boxes, new and old pavilion and clubhouse were, however, slashed by Rs 500, as the authorities had announced.

In the last match that the Chargers played at Barabati against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 22, the price of a gallery No. 3 ticket had been fixed at Rs 400.

“I had come here with Rs 600 to buy two tickets for gallery No. 3 but was surprised to hear that the price of the tickets was not slashed as announced in the news. My friend and I were looking forward to watching an IPL match,” said Saurabh Mandal, a young man who had come to Cuttack from Bhadrak to buy the tickets.

Similarly, the price of tickets for gallery No. 1 has also not been reduced. Earlier being sold for Rs 400, the announcement had said the price would be brought down to Rs 300. “We had heard the ticket rates would be brought down by Rs 100. It is so frustrating that there has been no reduction in price,” said Mitali, a college student.

OCA sources said the rates of corporate boxes, new and old pavilion, clubhouse tickets had been brought down considerably as the stakeholders believed that the second match would not generate a good response from cricket fans.

In the last match between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders, over 80 per cent tickets had been sold. The price of tickets for new pavilion and clubhouse, which were earlier sold for Rs 1,500, were sold for Rs 1,000 for the upcoming match.

Following resentment among cricket fans, the OCA today suspended the counter sale of tickets.

“We have today suspended the sale of tickets for galleries, which are the first choice of spectators. We have also written to the officials of the Deccan Chargers about the ticket price,” said a senior official of OCA.