Sohail Ahmed of CricInfo, the online firm responsible for the sale, predicted that all its Internet tickets would be sold out within a couple of days.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has allocated 30 to 40 per cent of tickets for sale online for the March 10 to April 17 series, which comprises five one-day matches and three Test matches. The non-refundable tickets range in price from 850 rupees (19 dollars) to 2,120 rupees (47 dollars).

The remaining 60 to 70 per cent of tickets, which are still in the final design stages and yet to be printed, would be sold at stadium gates, he said.

The PCB estimates that if each match is a sell-out it will have sold about 250,000 tickets in total.

"Tickets (for the India series) have gone on the Internet for the first time in history and the response has been overwhelming," said Ahmed.

Ahmed said 1,700 tickets had been sold within the first three hours of going online, with notable interest from Indians and from Pakistani expatriates living in Britain, the United States and the Middle East.

The ticket sales started about 24 hours ahead of schedule and a man from London was the first to book, buying seven tickets from the site www.pcbtickets.cricket.org. The buyer's name was not released.

"We have ensured that there is no bulk buying of tickets on the Net by restricting an individual to ten tickets per person," Ahmed added.

Visitors to the web site are presented with stadium layouts to book their preferred seats.

PCB expects the series to generate more than 1,200 million rupees in revenue, excluding ticket sales.

India are due to tour Pakistan for the first time in 14 years, beginning next month. It opens with a warm-up one-day match a day after landing in Lahore on March 10.

The first of five one-day matches will be played in Karachi on March 13.

Another report from Islamabad adds, Pakistan's interior ministry announced Wednesday 8,250 short-stay visas would be made available to Indian cricket fans for the five one-day matches scheduled next month, official said.

Vast swathes of Indian fans are expected to apply for visas to witness their country's first tour across the border in a long time.

"We have worked out the details with the PCB and have decided to give around 8,250 visas to Indian fans to watch this historic series," Interior Ministry secretary Tasneem Noorani told this news agency.

Noorani said that 2,500 visas would be issued for each of the two one-day games in Lahore, 1,500 for Karachi, 1,000 for Rawalpindi and 750 for Peshawar.

"The fans will first buy the tickets through the PCB sites and then produce confirmation of their booking to our consulate in New Delhi to get visas," he said.

The number of visas for the Test matches would be decided later, he added.

The meeting was attended by foreign affairs secretary Riaz Khokar, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and officials of the interior ministry. The meeting also reviewed security arrangements.