‘Bigger than the Ashes’: Cricket-mad fans flock to SCG blockbuster
The SCG is a riot of colour and action as cricket-mad fans pack in to watch Day 1 of the Border–Gavaskar Trophy. While pink was the flavour of the day, some attendees stood out from the crowd. SEE THE PICS HERE.
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The Indian side’s fans are known for their fervour but few will come close to the super-fan status achieved by Shobhit Virmani, who has spent more than $15,000 following his idol Virat Kohli around his home nation and now Australia.
Fortune shone down on the cricket-mad tourist, who rocked up to the sold-out SCG on Friday morning without a ticket, with box office staff taking pity and finding him a spare seat.
Everywhere he travels, Mr Virmani carries with him a notebook filled with Kohli’s sporting records going back to January 2020, hand-scribed, and now complete with the superstar’s autograph.
“This is just my first foreign tour, and my dream was to meet Virat Kohli, and I finally met him in Adelaide,” Mr Virmani said.
“I’m living my dream.”
In Mr Virmani’s opinion the Border–Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) is “of course” bigger than the Ashes.
“The India and Australia rivalry will always be there, and it is more big than India versus Pakistan also because there’s tough competition,” he said.
Briefly, a beer snake began to form in the Bill O’Reilly Stand but the rowdy Aussie trio’s attempt to bring it to life was quickly stamped out by SCG staff.
Canberran crocodile hunters Mitch Evans and Deacon Todd and their lone catch Jack Weedon are making a tradition out of rounding up their mates and dressing up in khaki shirts or – in Jack’s case – a fuzzy onesie for the first day of play at the SCG.
“Last year we had fishing shirts on and there was about eight of us, and this year we have 11 – 10 hunters and one croc,” Mitch said.
The boys rejected the idea that the BGT is already bigger than the Ashes, although Todd suggested it wouldn’t be long before the India-Australia rivalry takes precedence.
“I reckon there’s a couple more years in it, especially as the Indian population is ramping up in Australia it’s just going to get bigger,” he said.
“England can’t play in Australia — they haven’t been competitive for a few years,” Evans added.
COLOURFUL SCG BLOCKBUSTER
Beach balls flew, beer snakes grew and so did crowd numbers as the day drew on at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The historic SCG turned pink in support of the McGrath Foundation, with the boundary ropes, players’ numbers and fans all looking pretty in pink.
For any donation, fans can get a special edition pink bandana, with all proceeds going to the foundation.
In the stands, there weren’t many empty seats with big numbers of fans in comedic dress such as groups dressed as Steve Irwin, Mario Kart characters, and of former Australian cricket icons.
The Indian presence is felt in the crowd with the Swami Army filling a bay of the Brewongle stand, and are a booming voice when India scores.
However, the loudest cheer was for the “almost catch of the summer” when Steve Smith almost took a screamer to get rid of Indian superstar Virat Kohli.
The crowd stood and cheered as one, but the fun was short-lived as boos rang out around the ground when Kohli was given not-out.
INDIA’S CRICKET-MAD FANS FLOCK TO SCG
Green-and-gold supporters are at risk of being drowned out by Team India’s legion of fans at the SCG with bumper ticket sales for the Pink Test dominated by their heartland Western Sydney suburbs.
Unprecedented demand for the New Year’s Test has seen the first three days of play sold out, with only a few seats left for the fourth day.
Thousands of members were packed into long snaking queues down Driver Avenue, Moore Park amid whoops and cheers as they filtered in through the gates at 8am.
Sideshow entertainment came in the form of the McGrath Foundation’s iconic Pink Parade, beginning at the steps of Allianz Stadium before their short march to the SCG with tuba, saxophone and Bollywood dancers in tow.
The McGrath Foundation nurses and supporters were joined by members of the Pink Sari, a not-for-profit provision breast cancer awareness, screening and support to South Asian and subcontinental communities.
Ticket sales data obtained exclusively by The Daily Telegraph has revealed that of all the postcodes of punters headed to the Pink Test, the most seats were bought by residents of postcode 2145, which includes Westmead, Greystanes, Girraween and Wentworthville – where one in five locals have Indian ancestry, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
While total ticket sales for the first four days haven’t been finalised, at least one in 10 of the seats snapped up have gone to fans in this postcode alone.
Suburbs who’ve snatched up the next highest number of seats include Box Hill, Marsden Park and Riverstone, while Kellyville, Rouse Hill and Box Hill round out the top three postcodes who’ve bought the most tickets. Data from the last census shows those areas have a population including 19 per cent and 11.9 per cent with Indian heritage respectively.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy series is fast becoming more in-demand than the Ashes, with Cricket Australia’s executive general manager of events and operations Joel Morrison saying: “The Border-Gavaskar series has been the blockbuster of the summer, with fans turning out in record numbers across Australia. Sydney promises to provide a fitting crescendo for one of the biggest sporting contests in the world.”
A capacity crowd of 45,000 fans is expected to be cheering from the SCG stands on days one, two and three.
And The Bharat Army – established in the UK in 1999 as Indian cricket’s answer to England’s Barmy Army – will be there in their hundreds.
State representative Kunal Gandhi said the group’s Australian contingent fluctuates between 5000 and 8000 fans, usually swelling most ahead of one-day matches, however “the trend is changing a bit” with Test cricket increasing in popularity.
“Particularly because of the rivalry which it has created between India and Australia, it has now become the talk of the town,” Mr Gandhi said.
“The Ashes and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy are on the same level now.”
Aussie Indian fan club founder Gurnam Singh, of the Swami Army, predicted the SCG would be “at least 80 per cent” filled with Indian fans, agreeing the series is now “bigger than the Ashes”.
“It’s going to be huge … people are still messaging me and trying to get tickets,” he said.
Duke Ramachandran is gearing up for his 33rd year in a row without missing a single Sydney Test match, ready to make his annual “pilgrimage” to the SCG to join the “Aussie fans screaming in yellow” who will “without a doubt” be outnumbered by India’s fans.
“We’re going to be pretty vocal,” he said. “Aussies managed to silence the Indians at the ODI (World Cup) final in Ahmedabad (in 2023) – there were 110,000 Indians in there and probably 100 Aussies in the whole crowd, but Pat Cummins silenced them.
“There’s a lot of NSW boys in the squad – Starcy, Cummins – it’s NSW against India at the moment!”
In Harris Park – formally recognised as Sydney’s “Little India” by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – family restaurateurs and passionate India supporters Nitin and Vandana Setia have been preparing a special menu for the hundreds of Indian-Australian families and visitors from the subcontinent who will descend on the eat street “every night” after the day’s play.
“We normally do two kinds of chats, but for those five days we’re doing six kinds of chats specially designed as the (Indian) and Australian flag,” Mr Setia, co-owner of Ginger Indian Restaurant, said.
More than 5000 Indian passport holders have arrived in Sydney since December 26, and more than 83,000 in total have entered Australia since the start of last month.
Tourism Minister John Graham said each Indian visitor brought an economic boost worth almost $3000 per person.
“Hosting the Indian cricket team in Sydney is one of the highlights of the cricketing calendar, (and) hosting the Indian fans is likewise a great honour,” he said.
INDIA’S FANS GET BEHIND A GOOD CAUSE
Excitement for Sydney’s winner-takes-all showdown at the SCG has erupted across the city and the Aussie Indian cricket fan club the Swami Army is firing up for day one.
But for founder Gurnam Singh, the colour pink means just as much as the blue, green and orange of India’s flag.
Mr Singh, also founder of the Australian Indian Sports Educational and Cultural Society (AISECS) and a multicultural ambassador for Cricket Australia, has long marked the Sydney Pink Test by donning a pink turban, blazer and shoes.
The SCG match has extra significance to him as one of many Australians who have lost loved ones to cancer.
“My mother passed away from cancer and one of my cousins passed away from breast cancer … it has been with me in my life, so I think it’s a very important message,” he said of the awareness and funding raised from the Pink Test.
Nearly a full day prior to the toss today (Friday), the McGrath Foundation had already sold more than 41,700 virtual “pink seats” to the game – almost as many as the SCG’s real-life seated capacity.
In 2025 the McGrath Foundation is expanding their services beyond helping people with breast cancer to include all Australians with any kind of cancer diagnosis.
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Originally published as ‘Bigger than the Ashes’: Cricket-mad fans flock to SCG blockbuster
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