Persistent showers in Brisbane and 10 less balls at the Gabba on the opening day of the third Test match between India and Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) on Saturday led Cricket Australia to a AUD 1 million (approx ₹5.4 crore) in revenue loss after the authorities were forced to complete refund on tickets sold.
After Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first in overcast conditions, only 13.2 overs were possible on Day 1 due to heavy downpour much to the disappointment for a sell-out crowd.
According to Cricket Australia (CA) rules, fans are not eligible for a complete refund if a minimum of 15 overs is bowled during the day. As it stands, they were just 10 balls short of a 15-over mark.
“It turns out, a minimum of 15 overs is required to prevent fans being eligible for a full refund on tickets, meaning Cricket Australia was 10 balls away from potentially saving itself more than $1 million in refunds,” a report at news.com.au read. “The first day of the Test match was declared a sellout, with 30145 fans given as the official attendance.
“But they were subjected to a largely miserable day, with a reported 40mm falling at the ground at one stage in just one hour,” the website added. Meanwhile, Sunday saw no rain interruption.
No rains on Day 2 at The Gabba
Although the rain had stopped on a couple of occasions on Day 1, but it came back few minutes after on both times. As far as Day 2 is concerned, play started on time with clear blue skies on display.
India made early inroads with Jasprit Bumrah dismissing overnight openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney cheaply before Nitish Kumar Reddy got rid of Marnus Labuschagne.
However, it was Travis Head and Steve Smith thereafter as the duo frustrated the Indian bowlers. While Head went on score his second consecutive hundred in the series, Smith is also playing unbeaten after scoring a half century.
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