The MCG’s world record for largest crowd to watch a day of Test cricket remains unchallenged after the attendance at Australia’s match against India in Ahmedabad fell well short of expectations.
An official crowd figure was not confirmed for day one of the fourth Test on Thursday, but the Gujarat Cricket Association estimated it to be between 50,000 and 60,000.
Pre-match estimates predicted the crowd might reach as much as 110,000 in the 132,000 capacity stadium.
The record attendance for a single day of Test cricket stands at 91,112 from the start of the 2013-14 Ashes battle at the MCG.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi staged a spectacle like nothing witnessed before in cricket history in the stadium named after him.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined Modi to celebrate “75 years of friendship through cricket” for a range of events before the match.
Albanese and Modi were taken through the India-Australia Platinum Hall of Fame within the stadium before the prime ministers met the players.
Due to the events happening before the match, the Indian and Australian teams were told to train in the cricket nets outside of the stadium instead of on the ground as normal.
Once the Indian prime minister stepped foot in his own stadium, chants of “Modi, Modi, Modi” echoed around the ground as they would for Virat Kohli.
Australia captain Steve Smith and Indian skipper Rohit Sharma met the leaders on stage, with the four linking arms and raising them in the air.
Albanese then joined Modi to do a lap of honour around the stadium in a hovercraft with the bats and stumps on the back of it, waving to the delighted fans in the crowd.
Albanese stayed at the Ahmedabad colosseum for about an hour before moving on to other commitments in Mumbai and Delhi.
A number of influential Australian business leaders, including Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, Fortescue Metals boss Andrew Forrest and Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn, have joined Albanese on his first trip to India as prime minister.
Initial fears that travelling Australian spectators could be locked out of having access to watch the start of the match were eased this week after they’d previously only been able to purchase tickets for days two to five.
After a near five-year rebuild, the stadium in the capital of the Indian state of Gujarat, reopened in February 2020.
The first event in the stadium was a political event when Donald Trump arrived in India, with the former US president infamously mispronouncing the names of cricket icons Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli during a speech.
The ground, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, was renamed after Modi ahead of the 2021 Test between India and England.
The attendance record for the stadium is 101,566 when Gujarat Titans defeated the Rajasthan Royals in last year’s Indian Premier League final.
© AAP 2023
