MELBOURNE: The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is looking into the possibility of hosting a Test match between India and Pakistan, who have not played each other in the longest format of the game since 2007 with bilateral cricket between the neighbours suspended.

Since India hosted Pakistan in a bilateral limited overs series in 2013 the pair have only competed against each other at 20- and 50-overs World Cups and the Asia Cup.

The last time they met was at the Twenty20 World Cup in October, where more than 90,000 fans piled into the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch India win a last-ball thriller.

MCC Chief Executive Stuart Fox said the atmosphere at that match showed there would be no problem filling the venue for a Test series between the two.

“The atmosphere for that game, I’ve never felt anything like it,” Fox told radio station SEN. “The noise after every ball was phenomenal. Three [Tests] in a row would be lovely at the MCG, you’d fill it every time.

“We’ve taken that up with Cricket Australia. I know the [Victoria] government has as well. It’s enormously complicated from what I can understand, amongst a really busy schedule. So I think that’s probably the greater challenge.”

Fox said he hoped Cricket Australia would keep pushing the proposal with the International Cricket Council, the sport’s global governing body. “When you do see some of the stadiums around the world unoccupied, I think it would be much better to have a full house and that atmosphere and celebrating the game with full houses,” Fox added.

The Australian Asso­ciated Press reported that CA is up for bringing India and Pakistan to Australia for a bilateral series as long as the countries agreed to it.

“It would be up to the two countries to agree, but if there was to be a Test between India and Pakistan on neutral territory, we would of course be interested in the opportunity to host it in Australia,” a CA spokesperson told AAP.

“The supporters of the two teams here for the World Cup were amazing and the vast majority of those fans live in Australia.”

Pakistan are scheduled to play at the MCG in next year’s Boxing Day Test, with Fox saying Australia needed to engage better with multicultural fans.

“I’d love to shoot for 91,000 (spectators next December),” Fox said. “We want them [Pakistan fans] here and it would be fantastic to have a full house day one.”

Ahead of the World Cup match, India legend Ravi Shastri told AAP that 150,000 people would attend a game between the famous rivals if capacity allowed.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2022