A sellout crowd of 88,000 would turn out at the Eden Gardens in the opening game of the four-match India-Sri Lanka one-day international series in Kolkata on Thursday following massive demand for tickets due to the return of local hero Sourav Ganguly.

The public sale of tickets has been closed with nearly all tickets bought.

"We are left with only about 1,000 tickets, from which we have to meet the quota earmarked for the Indian Cricket Board [BCCI] as also the sponsors," Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) joint secretary Saradindu Pal said on Tuesday.

"The demand for tickets this time was many times more than what we have seen in the last few matches played at the Eden Gardens. Now our situation is so tight that we cannot put up any more tickets for public sale," Pal said.

The Rs 550 and Rs 900 tickets have already been exhausted, while a limited number of those priced at Rs 750 and Rs 1,200 still remain, he said.

The CAB had earlier announced that tickets would go for public sale from Monday. The counters had seen long queues since morning and the number of ticket-seekers soared as the day progressed with the police having a trying time in controlling the situation.

The CAB has will only admit 88,000 spectators reducing the number by 10 per cent taking into account the security aspect.

A CAB official said Ganguly's sparkling form since his comeback into the Indian team had greatly contributed to the demand for tickets.