Three days after the ticket counters for Kolkata’s IPL matches were thrown open with aplomb, the response for the Twenty20 championship has been pathetic among the members of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).

A floodlit Eden is slated to host seven home matches of the Shah Rukh-owned Kolkata Knight Riders team, starting with the opening home match against Hyderabad’s Deccan Chargers on April 20.

Although ticket sales for the general public hasn’t begun yet, the disastrous response from the members indicates that the matches will be played in front of empty stands, and the team owner Shah Rukh’s powerful presence may not be enough to save Eden the embarrassment.

The CAB has 31,000 members — life, annual, associate and honorary — and 121 affiliated units, who all are entitled to buy out their chunky share of tickets before the rest of the tickets for the 87,000-capacity are put out on public sale. Less than a measly 500 members have so far booked their share of tickets for the matches, which is an embarrassment since international matches here see all 31,000 seats for members full.

Far worse than that is the response from the 121 affiliated units of the CAB — the Maidan clubs and the districts. Each affiliated unit is entitled to withdraw 200 to 300 tickets for the seven matches, but barring just a handful of clubs, over 100 of them and all 18 districts haven’t even picked up a single ticket.

The reason behind this debacle is the joint decision of the CAB and Kolkata IPL franchise Red Chillies Entertainment to clip the right of the 31,000 members to watch the IPL matches at Eden for free. Ever since it was announced that no ticket is to be given out for free, fear loomed large that members, who comprise one-third of Eden's capacity, would lose interest in buying tickets, what if the ticket prices are as low as Rs 200, Rs 400 and Rs 600.

Former BCCI joint-secretary and Shyambazar Club official Goutam Dasgupta said: "The response for tickets was bound to be zero the moment the organisers changed the rule and asked members to pay up. With that decision, the organisers have effectively put off the entire 31,000-strong chunk, the members who would have otherwise filled up the stands with free tickets -- like they do at international matches. The second problem is that despite the hype surrounding Twenty20 and new teams, people don't quite like this new concept of quick cricket and entertainment, it's been proved now with the ticket-sale turnout."

The CAB administration in fact has egg on its face, with word going around that the clubs of top officials, CAB president Prasun Mukherjee and joint-secretaries Samar Paul and Amitava Banerjee, have stayed out of booking tickets for the matches.

CAB Vice-President Indranath Dey said: "One reason why ticket counters are wearing a deserted look is because members, clubs and districts are being offered season tickets that are priced quite high. Once daily tickets are available from April 16 onwards, the sales will shoot up."