Bumper MCG crowds prompt comparisons to Bradman era

The bumper crowds for the Boxing Day Test have prompted Australian cricket's highest compliment - a comparison to the Bradman era.

Saturday's raucous day-three crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and the state of play in the fourth Test, mean the game is on course to break the Boxing Day aggregate attendance record.

Saturday attracted 83,073 fans, a record for day three at a Boxing Day Test.

It is also the largest day-three Test crowd since January 1937, when 87,798 fans saw Sir Donald Bradman reach 56 not out at stumps.

The record MCG Test crowd is 350,534 in the 1936-37 Ashes series, when Bradman ruled the sport and Tests were played over six days.

In terms of Boxing Day Tests, the crowd record is 271,865 in the 2013-14 Ashes series.

Thursday's baking heat meant the day-one crowd was not quite as high as forecast, but 87,242 fans still attended.

Cooler conditions on Friday meant 85,147 fans - a record for day two of a Boxing Day Test.

With Saturday also cracking 80,000, the Boxing Day Test crowd record looks certain to fall. At 255,462 this is already the third-best attended Boxing Day Test.

The previous record for an Australia-India Boxing Day Test was 194,481 in 2014.

While rain stopped play early on day three, the forecast for days four and five looks promising.

Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said India fans had come to the MCG from all around the world.

"I think what's been particularly special about this series is the number of India fans, from not just India but all around the world," Hockley said.

"I have met fans from the UK, from Canada, from the US.

"Obviously it is a fantastic time of year but it talks to, the MCG has almost got this spiritual place in cricketing folklore."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal