At 3:50 PM on day one of the ongoing Boxing Day Test between Australia and India, the crowd paid tribute to the late Shane Warne. The fans in the stands doffed their floppy hats in memory of the great Australian leg-spinner.
The play was stopped for a minute at 3:50 PM as 350 was Warne’s Test cap number. The floppy hat was his signature style and hence, everyone in the ground mark paid their respect to the great man. Even Warne’s kids were at the MCG, remembering their father who was an iconic figure in the cricketing fraternity.
It’s been more than two and a half years since the great Shane Warne passed away. He died due to a suspected heart attack back in March 2022. Since then, there has been a tradition at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) where the crowd pay tribute to the legendary leg-spinner who finished his career with 708 Test wickets. The first such occasion was during the 2022 Boxing Day Test between Australia and South Africa. It continued in the following year (2023) when Australia played Pakistan.
Cricket Australia (CA) posted a video of fans doffing their hats on Twitter.
Record crowd at MCG on Day 1 of Boxing Day Test
The first day of the fourth Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy saw a record crowd gather at the iconic MCG. A whopping 87,242 people turned up to watch the game live from the stadium. It is the most for any Test match between Australia and India in Australia. Tickets were sold out much in advance for the opening day and it lived up to the hype.
Australia won the toss and batted first. Each of the top four batters (Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith) got to fifty.
Australia were going strong at 237/2 before India bounced back strongly in the last session as they picked up four wickets. Jasprit Bumrah was once again the standout bowler for India as he returned with three wickets. The hosts finished the day at 311/6. Akash Deep, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar took one wicket each.
