Cricket officials will be barracking for India’s batters to make big runs in their second innings of the first Test to lessen the risk of a significant loss in gate takings that may extend across the summer in bowler-friendly conditions.

Fans of both sides may have enjoyed seeing 17 wickets fall on an entertaining and chaotic first day which raised the possibility of a result inside three days, but Cricket Australia fears a truncated Test will result in a substantial drop in revenue.

More wickets fell on the first day of the Test at Perth Stadium than on any opening day of a Test match in Australia since 1952.

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Should that trend continue across the summer, CA would be facing a multimillion-dollar hit to its bottom line, while free-to-air broadcast rights holders Seven face losing valuable days of cricket content for which advertisers pay premium rates.

While sales of food and drinks for spectators, plus public ticketing, memberships and hospitality packages are hard to quantify, one senior official with knowledge of business modelling who spoke on the condition of anonymity told this masthead that lost revenue could amount to around $2 million per day in the event of an early finish.

Around 12,000 public tickets have been sold for day three of the Test. With a capacity of around 60,000, Perth Stadium needs to attract crowds of 30,000 per day or more to return a substantial profit if offering full staff and hospitality service to spectators.

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