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The India-Australia rivalry has officially reached new heights as a record 837,879 spectators attended the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The five-match Test series between the cricketing titans broke previous attendance records.
The iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) alone hosted 373,691 fans over five days, surpassing the previous record of 350,534 set in 1937. This surge in crowds speaks volumes for the growing intensity of the India-Australia rivalry and how it has overtaken the traditional England-Australia Ashes rivalry in the hearts of cricket fans.
India-Australia rivalry reaches new heights with record 837,879 spectators at Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25
Reacting to the numbers, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has boldly claimed that it is hard to argue that the India-Australia rivalry is not now the biggest in world cricket, including the traditional Ashes rivalry. The legendary Australian batsman expressed his surprise at the sheer magnitude of the turnout during the 2024-25 BGT.
Now, Ricky Ponting is keen to see what the next Ashes 2025 attendance will be like when England visit Australia for the five-match Test series, as if the crowd numbers weren’t so high, it will be clear that the India-Australia rivalry has passed the ashes, at least from the fans’ perspective.
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Ricky Ponting was quoted by The ICC Review: “I looked at the numbers yesterday, it was something like 837,000 people came to watch Test matches, which is unheard of here in Australia. So now that this series has happened, Australia have England coming out in the summer comes, so we will have a better idea then. If the numbers are not the same, there will be no doubt that the (border-Gavaskar) rivalry (is bigger), certainly from the point of view of fans”.
Australian legend Ricky Ponting also highlighted that rivalries in cricket are two-fold: there is what the fans want to see and the fierce competition between teams. He stressed that it is not just about the number of fans, but also how the players view the rivalry between cricket’s three biggest nations.
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If the BGT Tests had lasted five days, those numbers would have been astronomical: Ricky Ponting
Ponting signed off by saying: “There are two different sides to this – there’s what the fans want to see and the rivalry they want to do with it, but it’s also how the players see the rivalry between the three teams now. Perth only went four days , Adelaide only went three days and Sydney only went three days. Those numbers would have been astronomical if all those test matches were five days. So precisely this time next year, we will have a great idea of the major world cricket rivalry”.
Even former India head coach Ravi Shastri has praised the growing interest in Test cricket, especially after the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. It highlighted the record attendance for the Melbourne Test, with 375,000 spectators breaking a 90-year record set in 1936/37.
Shastri pointed out that this increase in attendance shows how interest in modern Test cricket has grown. He noted that the riveting episodes of Test cricket have taken fans away from TVs and OTT platforms, with many even traveling from abroad to witness the live action.
