Australia v India Boxing Day Test at the MCG could be one of the strangest yet amid COVID-19 pandemic

There have been many strange Boxing Day Tests. Matches starting while the country is wreathed in bushfires, or while parts are under flood.

Plenty of first mornings during Melbourne summer cold snaps. Years with star players banned, matches underway while tsunamis overcame Australia’s neighbours.

This year will be another kind of strange, a new twist on the franchise. Call it Boxing Day Test: Global Pandemic Edition. A cap of 30,000 spectators who will be spread out over the stadium.

India’s previous visit drew 73,000 on day one.

This year’s number would be huge in most grounds, but that sort of crowd can disappear in the cavernous G.

The date may say it’s a classic, but the atmosphere may say it’s a Melbourne versus Fremantle twilight…