Tempers flared outside Barabati stadium in Cuttack as several fans staged protests after being denied entry into the venue ahead of the first T20I between India and Sri Lanka, Times Now reported.

Several fans who claim to have purchased tickets online, were asked to turn back by security at the gates after their tickets were deemed to be irregular.

“We have purchased the tickets online and were provided the printed copies by the Odisha Cricket Association after showing the payment slips. The policemen at the gates, though, are now telling us that there is no seat number on them,” a fan was quoted as saying.

“It is the association’s prerogative to provide the correct tickets. Here were are being shooed away despite having conducted the process correctly,” he added.

Crowd trouble at the Barabati Stadium is not new. In 2015, A T20I between India and South Africa was suspended after fans, angry at the home team’s performance, had started hurling plastic bottles on to the field.