Magic happens at the ’G where India haven’t lost since 2011 – Australia need to get mean again

Sachin Tendulkar in action during the Test at the MCG on December 28, 1999. Picture: Phil Hillyard

They always looked bigger at the ’G. They always seemed meaner at the ’G. They always had an added air of dominance at the ’G. They always came across at their most partisan at the ’G.

Not just the Australian players, but the Australian fans – and, for that matter, the entire country.

This was Australia’s Test. The one that all of Australia tuned in for. The one that all of Australia signed up for. The one that all of Australia wanted a piece of. Not just the cricket fanatics. Not just the cricket fans. But every Aussie, from whichever part of this enormous country they belonged to. Regardless of whatever their political affiliations are. Whatever their football code associations. Whatever their backgrounds. Whatever their ethnicity.

It’s the Gabba where the Australians had their indomitable streak since 1988. But for us, watching from afar, it was on Boxing Day at the MCG that Australia seemed to be at their most fearsome. When the crowds seemed to be at their loudest. The Madison Square Garden for Australian cricket, the theatre of dreams for every Australian donning the baggy green. Where every show is always the grandest, and every performance always the most memorable.

This was Australian cricket as we knew it. Or wanted to know it. The voice of Bill Lawry welcoming you to the ’G, before retelling and reiterating what Test cricket in Melbourne meant to his beloved Victorians. And why there were 90,000 pouring through the gates of this iconic venue to soak in and savour the glory of the Boxing Day Test. The history, the tradition and the drama.

Sachin Tendulkar on his way to century during the second Test of the 1999 Australia v India series at the MCG. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Yes, Lord’s maybe referred to as the home of cricket. But it’s at the ’G where magic happens. Ask anyone who’s come here to play Test cricket from anywhere in the world. Sachin Tendulkar’s famous centuries at the WACA and the SCG may have established him as a generational star in 1992, but it was his incredible ton at the MCG in 1999 that became his crowning moment on Australian soil. The moment he anointed himself as the best in the world to the Australian fans.

There have been other Indians who’ve created special memories at MCG. Whether it was Virat Kohli’s breathtaking run chasing during the unforgettable T20 World Cup match against Pakistan two summers ago, or his former coach, Ravi Shastri, driving an Audi around the outfield as the champion of champions in 1985.

Virender Sehwag celebrates his century on Boxing Day, 2003, in the third Test at the MCG.

There had been other individual feats that deserve special mention, too, from Kapil Dev’s 5-28 in 1981 or Virender Sehwag’s merciless 195 in 2003. But India simply couldn’t win a Test in Melbourne. Or overcome the aura of playing Test cricket here.

There’s a story about MS Dhoni, the former India captain and megastar, when he first came to the MCG as a youngster on the 2007-08 tour. So intimidated and overawed was Dhoni by the size and magnitude of this most hallowed of sporting arenas that he requested Sachin Tendulkar to hold his hand while he walked around its vast expanse before his first-ever Boxing Day Test.

My first time to the MCG was in 2014. Nobody agreed to hold my hand as I walked around its vast expanse. But I remember getting goosebumps wherever I looked. Right from all the statues all around the precinct or the section of the stadium, which housed the erstwhile Bay 13. It was like I could see and hear all the stories I’d listened to about the ’G. It was surreal.

Almost as surreal as Channel 9’s lovely tribute promo to the legendary Bill Lawry on the morning of Boxing Day, voiced by the late Shane Warne. About how nothing happened at the ’G till Bill said so. How true as well.

That was a significant Test, though. It was the first time that the Indian team had avoided defeat at the MCG since 1985, but it was also the last time they were under any significant pressure of losing at this venue.

In the past decade or so, it’s India who have started to create great memories of their own at the MCG. They haven’t lost there since 2011. That’s four Test tours ago. It started with that vital draw in 2014, where they nearly batted the entirety of the final day to save the Test. It was also the match where Virat Kohli really announced himself as Australia’s biggest thorn in their flesh with a brilliant Test ton, which included a mean battle of wits and will against Mitchell Johnson.

Indian quick Jasprit Bumrah reacts after dismissing Australia’s Shaun Marsh with a sensational off-cutter in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG in 2018. Picture: Julian Smith/AAP

Four years on, they finally cracked the code and recorded their first win at the MCG, and in comprehensive fashion too, with Jasprit Bumrah starring with a sensational spell in Australia’s first innings. He finished with figures of 6-33 and delivering one of the most important moments in Border-Gavaskar Trophy history, the slower off-cutter to Shaun Marsh off the last ball before the lunch break.

Then came probably their most remarkable win on Australian soil, two years on in 2020, as they overcame the humiliation of being bundled out for 36 in Adelaide to create a comeback for the ages in Melbourne, with captain Ajinkya Rahane leading the way.

It’s a very different kind of feel at the MCG if you happen to be here a day before Boxing Day, on Christmas Day, when it’s mainly a bunch of kids sprawled around the massive outfield, entertaining themselves and others. While their parents keep themselves occupied, either with a hit in the nets – especially if you are Marnus Labuschagne – or joining the little ones in their fun and laughter before getting together for the Australian team’s Christmas lunch.

The festivities will be done and it’ll be all business come Thursday morning.

And as we prepare for yet another edition of the most anticipated days of the year in Australia, it’s the home team who are desperate to regain their faded aura at their ultimate bastion of sport. Desperate to go back to looking their biggest and feeling their meanest at the ’G. Because the entire nation will be tuned in and cheering them on.