Ticket sales are picking up for Friday’s ODI with Australia to be held at the JSCA stadium that is being decked up for the event with a new canopy over the entrance to the north pavilion and a specially designed outfield.

“The curator has been asked to give a box shaped affect through a process called striping using lawn mowers. It looks attractive. We have also gone for installation of a membrane roof canopy near the north gate of the stadium for the benefit of spectators who will be coming for the match that begins in the afternoon,” said JSCA CEO A.K. Singh.

The stadium’s Bermuda grass cover has been pruned, said sources, in a particular way to create the box effect.

Groundsmen explained that the grass is cut in opposite directions so as to appear lighter and darker. The blades of grass are bent in opposite directions. The lighter looking grass reflects more light because of the angle of its blades while the darker ones reflect less light because of their angle.

The JSCA stadium can seat 40,000 people.

The north pavilion was been named after acting BCCI president and former JSCA president Amitabh Choudhary last year along with the south pavilion which has been named after iconic cricketer M. S Dhoni.

“The canopy has been installed by Delhi-based Serge Ferrari India, which is a unit of a French company, at a cost of Rs 90 lakh. It is approximately 50 feet long and 30 feet wide near the north gate,” added Singh.

The Amitabh Choudhary pavilion has been segregated in three parts. A ticket for the premium terrace comes for Rs 1,500 (without hospitality), the president’s enclosure for Rs 8,000 (with hospitality) and hospitality box for Rs 5,000.

The M.S. Dhoni pavilion has also been segregated in three parts in terms of ticket prices — donor’s enclosure for Rs 1,000 (without hospitality), corporate salon for Rs 3,000 (with hospitality) and luxury parlour for Rs 4,500 (with hospitality).

This time, the minimum price of a ticket is Rs 900 while the maximum is Rs 8,000. A ticket for Wing A (Upper) costs Rs 900 and Wing A (Lower) Rs 1,000. For Wing B (Upper) the charges are Rs 1,100 and Wing B (Lower) it is Rs 1,400. For Wing C (Upper) tickets come for Rs 900 and Wing C (Lower) Rs 1,000. A Wing D (Lower) ticket comes for Rs 1,200 and a ticket for the Spice Box costs Rs 1,000.

On Monday, 14,272 tickets were sold from six ticket counters. That’s a lot more than the sales on Sunday when 9,565 tickets were sold between 9am and 5pm (barring one hour’s lunch break from 1pm).