The scoreboard shows the official attendance on the last day of the fourth cricket test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake The scoreboard shows the official attendance on the last day of the fourth cricket test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake

The fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 Test between India and Australia has established a new attendance record at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. (Day 5 Blog | Full Coverage | More Cricket News)

The attendance at the end of the first session of the fifth and final day of the Test match was 51,371, taking the overall number for this game to 3,50,700 over the course of five days. With this, the fourth Test left behind the all-time attendance record at MCG, that was 3,50,534 in a 1936/37 match between England and Australia. That was a six-day Test.

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The ongoing match is also now the most attended Test on Australian soil ever. A highly vocal Indian crowd has also played a part in making the record apart from Australian Test cricket lovers.

The overall attendance record for a Test match belongs to Kolkata's Eden Gardens where 4,65,000 people attended the India vs Pakistan game in 1998/99.

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The match had already surpassed the all-time Boxing Day Test attendance record on the fourth day of the game. 43,867 people turned up at the MCG on Day 4 of the Test, thus taking the total attendance to 299,329 people to surpass the previous record.

Both Belgium goals came from field efforts through Alexia 'T Serstevens in the 34th minute and Dewaet Louise two minutes later on Thursday night.

In the shootout, skipper Harmanpreet Singh and Sukhjeet Singh scored twice each with Abhishek being the other scorer.

Before this, the 2013 Ashes Boxing Day Test between England and Australia had the highest attendance for a match beginning December 26. The attendance for that match was 271,855.

The ongoing Test match is poised well for a thrilling finish but Australia have taken an edge by lunch on the final day. Chasing 340, India had lost Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli by lunch with the target still 303 runs away.

The match is significant for the World Test Championship final qualification chances of both the sides. With South Africa already booking their ticket to final with Saturday's win over Pakistan, only one spot remains up for grabs.

A loss for India will pull down curtains on their WTC campaign. A win or even a draw will keep them in fray.gvg777