Cricket Australia has issued a full refund to spectators after the opening day of the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy match between Australia and India was due to rain at the Brisbane Cricket Ground on Saturday.
The first day of the Gabba Test could only have seen 13.2 overs played, and it transpired that Cricket Australia could have evaded a refund if there had been a 10-ball overtime game where at least 15 overs were required to be played to prevent fans. You will receive a full refund on your tickets.
The cricket body would have saved itself more than $1 million in refunds as it said 30,145 spectators would receive full refunds, according to news.com.au.
The entire wet Gabba Stadium was under water at one point as play was called off for the day.
The five-match Test series – currently settled at a knife-edge 1-1 – will continue tomorrow (Sunday).
The rain began to fall after Rohit Sharma won his third toss of the series and invited Australia to bat first and Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney opened the first innings for the Kangaroos.
The pair’s innings was interrupted due to heavy rain falling 13.2 times in the match, which pushed the fans towards the shelter and ground staff working to cover the pitch.
Interestingly, Khawaja managed to score 19 out of 47 passes, the highest number from him in any of his last six matches. He has been going through a difficult phase with his last fifty coming against the West Indies at the Gabba in January, according to Sydney Morning Herald.