New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) Fans with valid tickets had to go through a harrowing time before getting into the Ferozeshah Kotla ground for the West Indies-Netherlands World Cup match here Monday.

The fans, who bought tickets online through official site Kyazoonga.com, had to wait for long to get the barcoded tickets from Bank of Maharashtra.

A spokesman for the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) expressed surprise over the delay, saying they had handed over all the tickets to the bank well in time.

‘I don’t know the reason why the fans had to wait for their tickets for so long, we had handed over all the tickets to the bank five-six days ago,’ S.P. Bansal, DDCA general secretary told IANS.

Kyazoonga.com officials, however, blamed the DDCA for the mess.

‘Most of the tickets were sent to us on time, but we were waiting for some more from the DDCA,’ a Kyazoonga.com employee told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

The official capacity of the stadium is 41,000 out of which 10,000 are complimentary passes as stipulated by the Delhi High Court.

Fans were fuming as despite turning up a couple of hours before the match started at 2.30 pm, they could not see the first ball bowled.

‘I came here at 1 pm and I didn’t see any volunteers to help me out. It was a complete mess,’ said Ritobaan Roy, who came here with his colleagues at a German government agency

A visibly upset Aaron Sidhu, a Delhi-based businessman, said: ‘I bought the tickets online and the Kyazoonga.com people said he had to wait for long and by the time I could get in the match had already started.’