The new Ashes? How the rivalry between Australia and India is reaching new heights

Cricket Australia officials are hopeful of attracting 90,000 fans on Boxing Day this year for just the second time in a Test, as part of a summer that finally pulls India alongside England as Australia’s most important cricketing rival – and partner.

The series, which starts in Perth on Friday, is the first five-Test contest between the two countries since 1991-92 and marks the start of a radical new look to Australian summers. India’s men will become an even more regular accompaniment, but Australia’s best women players will abandon their homeland in peak season from 2026 to play in the burgeoning Women’s Premier League (WPL).

Related: Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley: ‘I’m not very good at enjoying the cricket’ | Jack Snape

In fact, Australia’s best men’s and women’s players will – according to current schedules – both be playing in India in January 2027, ducking out in the peak of the local cricket season.

Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley says while scheduling is a “balance” the change is for the good of the sport. “We’re proud and super excited that the India series is now a five-Test series, and the whole premise of that was for the Border-Gavaskar to be on an equal billing with the Ashes,” he says.

Attendances and financial returns highlight CA’s motivation. India has become not only as much as a draw for crowds as the “old enemy” in England, the broadcast windfall of Australia-India clashes will underpin CA’s financial recovery.

Hockley says relationships with every cricketing board is important, but in terms of “pure economics” an Indian tour is “very, very significant”. “This series coming up, it’s not just Indian and Australian fans, all cricket fans all around the world are really keen, and we’re seeing that with ticket sales. There are people coming from the US, Canada, Europe, all over the world to watch this.”

Hockley expects the Boxing Day crowd figure “to have an 8 or a 9” at the front, which would push the turnout into rare company. The MCG’s largest cricket crowd was for the 2015 men’s World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand, when 93,013 watched the hosts lift the trophy. Boxing Day crowds have reached 90,000 just once before, when 91,112 came for the Ashes contest in 2013.

“Think about Muhammad Ali during his career, it’s the heavyweight bout that everyone wants to see,” Hockley says.

Rakesh Patel, founder of the Bharat Army - the Indian equivalent of England’s Barmy Army – says the growth in interest in India’s men’s Test tours of Australia has at least doubled since the last non-pandemic affected series in 2019 as part of a long-term trend.

“The Indian team seems to be more competitive on the field, making it a bit more of an attractive proposition for fans to come and watch their team play, because there’s a chance they’re winning,” he says.

“You’ve got people that are spending more money – particularly that middle class – on cricket experiences, and that’s why you’ve seen a massive increase in travel numbers.

“And you look at those generations of Indians that have emigrated to Australia over the years. Now they’ve also a bit more disposable income, they’re a bit more settled, they’ve got good careers, their spending power has changed, and now they can afford to travel, not just to watch cricket within their state, but outside their state as well.”

Day one crowds are on track to go close to sellouts in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. The interest is a huge relief for Cricket Australia, which has lost $50m in the past three years and had crowds during the most recent tours by England and India affected by Covid restrictions, which also required novel expenditure like quarantine. “We were unfortunate that Covid hit when we did have India and England, and we couldn’t have crowds during our big summers,” Hockley says.

But while CA’s annual match income halved to $18m between India’s tours in 2018-19 and the pandemic-affected 2020-21 season, broadcast and marketing revenue – despite legal action by broadcast partner Channel 7 – held up, at more than $200m per year. The discrepancy also highlights the major opportunity for increasing the amount of content featuring India.

Hockley says the game’s finances will see an uplift in the next two years thanks to new broadcast arrangements. “The Indian matches attract a premium, so you’ll see that reflected over the coming years, but even more so next year, because we’ve got an Ashes, and then we also got eight games against India, all in the one year,” he says.

The Channel 7 and Fox deal is worth around $215m per year, while Disney Star pays CA around $50m per year over seven years, largely for the right to show matches involving India. “Cricket is very fortunate to have India,” Hockley says. “Brutally, cricket would not be part of the Olympics if the Olympic movement weren’t going after one-point-four billion eyeballs.”

The other implication of playing more Test cricket against India, together with Australia’s long-term commitment to the Ashes, is there are fewer matches against other teams.

In 2027, Australia’s men’s team is scheduled to travel to India in mid-January for a five-Test series as part of a summer that is set to end with an MCG Test in March, celebrating 150 years since the 1877 match between Australia and England.