BRISBANE: India’s bowlers were left frustrated and wicketless as rain wiped out most of the opening day’s play in the third Test against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.

Australia were 28 for no loss when play was abandoned, with Usman Khawaja unbeaten on 19 and Nathan McSweeney four not out after facing only 13.2 overs at a rain-sodden Gabba.

India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first but his hope of early wickets proved forlorn, rain halting play in the sixth over for about 30 minutes and dashing his pace bowlers’ hopes of finding their rhythm.

The rain returned to bring an early lunch and persisted until play was abandoned late in the afternoon, short-changing a crowd of 30,145.

The Gabba pitch had a green tinge on what had been a steamy, overcast morning, promising a stiff examination for Australia’s top order, but the ball ultimately did little off the spongy pitch.

Barring a probing, opening burst by Bumrah, who repeatedly beat Khawaja’s bat, the Indian pacers were culpable of bowling too short.

Khawaja capitalised, smashing Mohammed Siraj to the fence with a couple of sweetly struck pull shots but the weather denied a healthy crowd more action.

With the five-Test series poised at 1-1, India made two changes to the side that lost by 10 wickets in the day-night test in Adelaide — Ravindra Jadeja replacing spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Akash Deep coming in for struggling paceman Harshit Rana.

Australia made only one change, with quick Josh Hazlewood replacing Scott Boland after recovering from a side injury.

Sharma, whose poor form with the bat has heaped pressure on his captaincy, will continue to bat at number six, with K.L. Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal retained as the opening combination.

“There’s a lot of grass and it looks a little soft as well so we want to try and make the best use of the conditions and try and see what we can do with the ball up front,” Sharma had said after winning the toss, adding that the mood in the Indian dressing room was “absolutely buzzing”.

“The guys are looking forward to the Test match. It’s been always nice to come here and play some really good cricket and yeah, when you talk about how everyone’s feeling, they want to come out here and showcase themselves.”

As it was, India will have to wait until day two to show their skills and may need early wickets to force a third consecutive result in the series.

SCOREBOARD

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings):

U. Khawaja not out 19

N. McSweeney not out 4

EXTRAS (LB-5) 5

TOTAL (for no wicket, 13.2 overs) 28

DID NOT BAT: M. Labuschagne, S. Smith, T. Head, M. Marsh, A. Carey, P. Cummins, M. Starc, N. Lyon, J. Hazlewood

BOWLING: Bumrah 6-3-8-0, Siraj 4-2-13-0, Deep 3.2-2-2-0

INIDA: Y. Jaiswal, K.L. Rahul, S. Gill, V. Kohli, R. Pant, R. Sharma, R. Jadeja, N. K. Reddy, J. Bumrah, M. Siraj, A. Deep

UMPIRES: Richard Illingworth (England) and Richard Kettleborough (England)

TV UMPIRE: Christopher Gaffaney

(New Zealand)

MATCH REFEREE Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2024