AUS vs IND 2024-25: Record-breaking 85,000-plus crowd expected to witness Perth Test

The high-octane Border-Gavaskar Trophy begins with the first Test in Perth. The Optus Stadium is all set to welcome more than 85,000 spectators across the first three days of the opening Test, which would surpass the venue's previous record of 81,104 for a Test match, set during its inaugural Test in 2018, also against India.

However, Cricket Australia (CA) has received huge criticism from Perth's Optus Stadium chief Mike McKenna despite expectations of massive attendance for the upcoming first Test match between India and Australia for the starting from November 22.

Notably, the relations between CA and WACA (Western Australia Cricket Association) have been poor in recent years, particularly during the pandemic when Perth missed out on hosting Tests against India during 2020-21 edition of the historic series and England for the Ashes following summer, largely due to strict state biosecurity measures. The controversy increased with CA's handling of Justin Langer's exit as national coach in February 2022, which brought significant backlash from WA cricket supporters. 

Meanwhile, fans were also upset after CA’s high-performance team withdrew Test stars Pat Cummins, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood just days before the third ODI against Pakistan to prepare for the Tests.

"We’re encouraging CA to do what they can to treat the people of WA with a bit of love. When CA put the tickets on sale months out they want people to buy them and people do that with confidence, players will turn up. When they have bought them and people don’t turn up, people who have bought them a long time ago will think twice about doing it next time," McKenna said, as quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald.

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You don’t want to have all your players flying back: Mike McKenna

The ODI attendance of 19,781 was low, despite featuring local talent including newly appointed captain Josh Inglis and four other West Australians. This saw barely half the average attendance for Perth Scorchers' Big Bash League matches at the venue last season. While McKenna understood CA's need to manage player workload, he asked for a more balanced approach. 

"Balancing of players’ needs for rest and rotation is fair enough given the amount of cricket they need to play, but you don’t take all of them out at the same time and try and convince us putting WA players in a weakened team is a good idea for anyone. You don’t want to have all your players flying back, it’s about balance. To take so many good players out of the squad late in the piece is a bit of a slap in the face for those who make the commitment of buying tickets for those games in advance,” the stadium chief concluded.