The National Stadium, venue of the match in the southern port city, was filled from early morning with people, including many women and children, and police made baton charges to maintain order.

Ticket sales were eventually suspended until Monday after police failed to stop people breaking into an enclosure and damaging practice wickets and fencing.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) expressed disappointment over the suspension of sales, but chief executive Rameez Raja told Reuters plenty of tickets were still available for the much-awaited match.

"We have more than 20,000 tickets remaining for various enclosures. We will finalise a fresh strategy today on how to ensure smooth sale of these tickets on Monday," Rameez said.

"We were not expecting such a big rush of people. But I think even the people have to realise that for a population of 15 million people there is never going to be enough tickets for everyone," he added.

The National Stadium has a capacity of 33,500 and 20 percent of tickets have been sold on the internet for the higher category enclosures. It is the largest stadium in the country.

The Indian team is due to arrive in Pakistan for the first time in 14 years on Wednesday for a tour of five one-day internationals and three tests.