T20 World Cup 2026: BookMyShow crashes as ticket sale opens for IND vs PAK clash

The tickets for the marquee India-Pakistan clash at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 went live for sales on Wednesday. Fans flocked to BookMyShow in huge numbers to secure seats for the match scheduled for February 15 in Colombo.

However, the rush proved too much for the ticketing platform, which crashed within minutes of the tickets going live. The second phase of ticket sales for the T20 World Cup 2026 began on January 14, with the India-Pakistan match being made available for booking for the first

time. As expected, this fixture generated immense interest.

Notably, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 will run from February 7 to March 8. India will open their campaign against the USA at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on February 7, while Pakistan will face the Netherlands in Colombo in the tournament opener. Despite ongoing uncertainty around Bangladesh’s matches, the India-Pakistan clash remained the headlining act of the ticketing phase.

Within minutes of tickets going live on BookMyShow, the platform experienced a massive surge in traffic. Thousands of fans attempted to log in simultaneously, leading to server overload and eventual system failure. Several users reported long waiting times, failed transactions, and repeated logouts as the website struggled to cope with the demand. Sources confirmed that the sheer volume of concurrent requests caused BookMyShow’s servers to crash.

Following strained relations after last year’s border escalation and the heated Asia Cup contests, expectations are that the rivalry will once again grab attention in this event. Reports suggest that the no-handshake policy observed during the Asia Cup could continue during the T20 World Cup. Meanwhile, India will arrive in Colombo after facing Namibia in Delhi on February 12, while Pakistan will play their third group-stage match, having already faced the Netherlands and the USA. All of Pakistan’s league games are scheduled to be held in Colombo, across the Sinhalese Sports Club and R Premadasa Stadium.