Australia 28 for 0 (Khawaja 19*, McSweeney 4*) vs. India
Only 13.2 overs were possible on a rainy first day in Brisbane, where India struggled unsuccessfully after electing to bowl first in the third Border-Gavaskar Test match.
Overcast conditions and a grassy pitch led to India inserting Australia after winning their third consecutive draw, and perhaps recent history also influenced their decision, as the team bowled first after having won six of the last seven tests at this place. However, it took a while for India’s quicks to find their length, and the openers looked mostly calm in the first 5.3 overs before a drizzle drove the bowlers off the field, with Usman Khawaja saving any touch too straight or short while reaching 13 off 22 balls.
The game resumed after a half-hour interruption and the players began asking more questions, moving more and finding more movement. Akash Deep, who came into the side in place of Harshit Rana, looked particularly impressive as first over, swinging and biting the ball towards right-handed Nathan McSweeney and getting the occasional ball to go up awkwardly as well.
But just as the contest was beginning to heat up, with India conceding just nine runs in 7.5 overs after the break, the rain returned, this time with greater intensity. The Gabba’s rapidly draining gardens promised a quick resumption when the rain stopped, but the wait for that to happen dragged on and on, spanning both lunch and tea breaks. The downpour eased around 3pm, but returned shortly afterwards. The match was finally suspended at 4:13 p.m.
Apart from Akash Deep, India also brought in Ravindra Jadeja for his first appearance in the series, in place of R Ashwin. This change meant that they had played three different wheels in each of the first three tests. For Australia, Josh Hazlewood returned after recovering from his side strain, displacing Scott Boland from the pace attack.
