Police used sticks to disperse a crowd of angry cricket fans on Monday after tickets sold out for the World Cup quarterfinal between India and Australia.
An Ahmedabad police spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the Monday incident as "only a mild cane charge" to "shoo away" an unruly group of people.
Rajesh Patel, honorary secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association, said there was no serious problems, and police only acted to "maintain discipline" in the queue. No arrests or injuries were reported.
Patel said the ticket box offices closed when all general admission tickets were sold. He said more than 22,000 tickets had been sold online, and between 18,000 and 20,000 sold through local ticket windows.
The Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera has a capacity of 54,000, but that figure has been reduced for the World Cup, with sections created for official seating, plus corporate and commercial requirements.
Australia played at the stadium in the group stage, when skipper Ricky Ponting was fined for damaging a TV screen following his run out in the Feb. 21 match against Zimbabwe.
It's not the first time a late rush on tickets for the World Cup has forced police to intervene, with stronger action taken earlier at Nagpur and Bangalore.
Police wielding sticks charged hundreds of fans queuing outside the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium in Nagpur to buy tickets for the match between India and South Africa.
Some people received minor injuries in the charge, but police refused to comment on their use of force.
That charge followed similar police action on Feb. 24 in Bangalore when fans queued overnight for tickets to the India vs. England match.
At the time, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said while it was upsetting to see cricket fans being beaten, it was wrong to blame policemen all the time.
"They do not want to cane people," Dhoni said. "It is only when the situation goes out of control and they fear a stampede that they try to control the crowd in such fashion."
