Babar Azam's Pakistan look for their first ever World Cup win over India on Saturday in front of a record crowd expected to number around 120,000 fans who will overwhelmingly be backing Rohit Sharma's home side.
India and Pakistan are bitter adversaries and only play against each other in international tournaments due to longstanding political tensions.
Local officials told AFP the 132,000-capacity stadium would host around 115,000 to 120,000 fans with some seats lost due to a stage set up for a pre-game concert featuring a cast of Bollywood singers. Thousands of fans in blue Indian jerseys queued up to enter the stadium, which was already more than half full 90 minutes before the first ball was to be bowled at 0830GMT.
Security concerns saw Saturday's match brought forward a day from its original date, which coincided with a major Hindu festival in the city.Authorities are deploying 11,000 police officers to keep order -- around one for every 11 spectators. "Cannot get bigger than this, fantastic atmosphere," Rohit said at the toss on Saturday as the home crowd roared. Pakistan have never won against India in the World Cup in their seven outings since 1992.India remain behind in their overall ODI head-to-heads against Pakistan with 56 wins and 73 losses but have clearly been the stronger team in recent meetings.
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