Bradman-era crowd record smashed at MCG

Australia and India's enthralling battle in Melbourne has broken the all-time attendance record for an MCG Test, smashing an 87-year-old mark set during Don Bradman's prime.

With the stage set for a day-five classic, 74,362 spectators turned out on Monday for a much-anticipated gripping conclusion to an already fascinating match.

The total attendance of 373,691 is the greatest for any Test match in Australia.

It exceeds the total of 350,534 against England in 1937 over six days, when Bradman was the king of cricket.

"We've been blown away by the support of fans across the Boxing Day Test," Cricket Australia's events and operations head Joel Morrisson said.

"The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is a blockbuster event, and it has been fantastic to see such strong attendances right across the summer."

A total of 43,867 fans came through the gates on Sunday, bringing the overall attendance to 299,329 and breaking the previous record – 271,865 against England in 2013 – for a Boxing Day Test.

This Test has become the second-highest attended of all-time, with only the India-Pakistan match (465,000) at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in 1999 ahead of it.

With five-day Tests becoming a rarity in modern cricket, particularly in Australia, all tickets for Monday's action were priced at $10.

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

Thursday's baking heat meant Boxing Day fell short of breaking the all-time crowd record for a day of Test cricket – 91,092 in 2013 at the MCG – but 87,242 fans still attended.

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

The previous record for an Australia-India Boxing Day Test was 194,481 in 2014, wicketkeeping great MS Dhoni's red-ball farewell.

"I've not seen anything like it at a cricket match," Melbourne Cricket Club boss Stuart Fox said on Sunday.

"I think that just the spirit in the stadium ... all of our staff on day one just said how happy the crowd were."

It continues a monster year for the MCG following three sold-out Taylor Swift concerts of her iconic The Eras Tour in February, and the AFL season averaging 60,000 per match.

"I thought Taylor Swift was big, but this has been something else," Fox said.

"But I think with Taylor Swift coming in, a fantastic AFL season, then this Boxing Day Test, it's (2024) going to be hard to beat, I can assure you."

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