Australia Test captain Tim Paine fears the Boxing Day Test against India could be moved out of the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in the wake of rising cases of coronavirus in Victoria.

With the caseload rising in Victoria, Cricket Australia (CA) is open to the idea of shifting the Boxing Day Test to Perth, where the situation remains under control.

“Certainly, from a player’s point of view, we want to be playing in front of big crowds at the best venues and a big day like Boxing Day is something that everyone looks forward to and a big part of that is playing at the MCG,” the ’keeper-batsman said in a video message posted on the CA website.

“Fingers crossed things are going well enough that we can do that, but as I said, we are spoilt for choice here in Australia with some world-class stadiums. If something had to change, then, again, we have plenty of options.”

If the match is shifted to Perth, CA is eyeing the Optus Stadium, which can accommodate 60,000 supporters and is regarded as Australia’s best venue outside the MCG.

There were also reports that the match may be held at an empty MCG depending on the situation at that time.

The four-Test series is scheduled to start in Brisbane on December 3.

Paine, however, said he is hopeful the Boxing Day Test would remain at its spiritual home. “Given the current circumstances, I dare say everything is well and truly on the table.”

He feels Australia are better prepared this time. “We certainly struggled a little bit last time. “Sometimes you’ve got to give credit. India played very well. I’m sure we’ve learnt a lot from playing them. We think we’re a better team now than we were then,” Paine said.

Australia will have Smith and Warner back in the line-up this time and the skipper emphasised that they need to score big runs to put India under pressure. “We feel if we can get some scoreboard pressure on and score runs we need to score to win Test matches, our bowling attack won’t let us down,” he said.