The India vs Australia Boxing Day Test in Melbourne will see 25,000 spectators being included at the MCG to witness the match as the city slowly recovers from the coronavirus lockdown. Melbourne was the worst-affected city by the coronavirus pandemic in the state of Victoria but it recently ended it’s lockdown.
Melbourne is all set to host the iconic Boxing Day Test for the 31st consecutive time when India will square off against Australia on December 26. When the India schedule was announced, there was a lot of doubt whether Melbourne would be able to host the Test match as it was the worst-affected city by the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, Melbourne ended its rigorous four-month lockdown and started resuming life. In keeping with the coronavirus safety guidelines, there might be only 25,000 people that will be allowed to attend the Boxing Day Test.
The capacity of the MCG is over a lakh and in recent pasts, it has seen crowds of 93000 and 99000 for the Ashes Tests against England in 2013 and 2017. During the ICC Women’s World T20 final which was held in March 2020 between Australia and India, the crowd of 86000 was the highest for any women’s event in Australia.
Victorian Minister for Sport Martin Pakula told the media in Melbourne, “The Victorian Government, MCC and Cricket Australia will develop a rigorous Covid-safe plan based on the most up-to-date public health advice to enable a limited number of fans to safely attend the Test this year. Crowd numbers will be confirmed closer to the match but will be capped at around 25,000 spectators.”
However, this will mean that the borders between Victoria and New South Wales, that has been sealed ever since the coronavirus pandemic, will now have to be opened so that teams can easily arrive at the venue. The bio-bubble norms will have to be worked out in Victoria as it continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
India squads for Australia
The Indian cricket team are all set for their first major international cricket assignment ever since the coronavirus pandemic. Before COVID19, India’s last assignment was the tour of New Zealand which they lost 0-2 and 0-3 in the Tests and ODIs but swept New Zealand 5-0 in the T20Is.
Rohit Sharma has not been named in any of the squads while Varun Chakravarthy is one of the additions to the T20I squad. There are huge fitness concerns over Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma while there are some new additions to the Test squad in Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini.
In India’s last tour Down Under, Virat Kohli’s team won the Tests 2-1 and secured their first-ever win in a Test series in Australia while they also won the ODIs 2-1. They tied the T20Is 1-1 but it made India the second team after South Africa to win a series in all three formats in Australia.
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