Thousands of fans have packed out the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the Boxing Day Test, coming from as far afield as New Delhi and California to watch Australia take on India.
The Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne has become part of the cricketing tradition since 1980, with England, India and the West Indies among the most frequent opponents in matches starting on 26 December.
Australia and India are facing each other again in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy — named after former captains Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar — and supporters of both sides came from near and far to watch the first day of play.
Sushma Chowdhry and her 12-year-old son Aarav came from New Delhi for the match.
While many Indian fans may hope to see Jasprit Bumrah bowl over the Australians or KL Rahul strike a winning knock, Aarav’s focus was different.
“I’m looking forward to getting [Mohammed] Siraj’s signature. I really want that; that’s what I came here for,” he said.
India won the last Boxing Day Test in 2020 by eight wickets, and when asked if he expected a similar performance, Aarav replied: “Hopefully.”
Sushma said: “We’ve come from India to enjoy the match. It is expensive [to travel] at this time, but my children are here, and I wanted to be with them and enjoy it.”
“All the best for the players, all the players.”
Nilesh and his family came from the United States to watch the game, and his son is looking forward to watching Steve Smith and Virat Kohli play.
He told SBS Gujarati: “We’re going to be going to Sydney as well, really excited looking at all the energy over here, so many people, should be a good match.”
Sachin Aru and Amit J are both Melbourne residents and said they felt fortunate to get tickets, with the match expected to sell out.
Aru said: “I’m here to support the best team in the world, that’s of course India, and then I’m here for the few Aussie players as well: Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon is my all-time favourite and, of course [Marnus] Labuschagne.
“I’m here primarily to support India … [but] I’m going to cheer all my favourites.”