Better Than Ashes, India-Pakistan? Ricky Ponting's Huge Claim About India-Australia Rivalry

With unprecedented attendance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting asserted that it's hard to argue that the rivalry between the two teams isn't the biggest in world cricket. Historically, the England-Australia rivalry is seen as the biggest in Test cricket but the attendance record for the five-Test series between India and Australia stood at 8,37,879 with 3,73,691 spectators marking their attendance at Melbourne Cricket Ground across five days, surpassing the previous mark of 3,50,534 set in 1937.

Ponting was stunned by the numbers and said it would be interesting to see the Ashes attendance when England come to get a better idea of the rivalry from the fan's perspective.

“I had a look at the numbers yesterday, it was something like 837,000 people came to watch the Test matches, which is unheard of here in Australia,” Ponting told The ICC Review. “So now that this series has happened, Australia have England coming out next summer so we'll get a better idea then. If the numbers aren't the same, then there'll be no doubt that the (Border-Gavaskar) rivalry (is bigger), certainly from the fans' point of view.

“There's two separate parts to this: There's what the fans want to see and the rivalry that they want to make of it, but it's also how the players view the rivalry between the three teams now.”

Remarkably, there was scope for attendance figures to be even bigger, with early finishes and a rainy Brisbane encounter denying a seven-figure mark. “Perth only went four days, Adelaide only went three days, Sydney only went three days. Those numbers would have been astronomical if those Test matches all went five days.

“So exactly this time next year, we'll have a