Third Test: Australia's Fast Bowlers Excel as Rain Disrupts India
Click to start listening
Brisbane, Dec 16 (NationPress) Monday proved to be a challenging day in the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test, as rain repeatedly interrupted play. Despite the weather, Australia’s fast bowlers managed to take wickets and leave India in a precarious situation.
As the day concluded with only 33.1 overs of action possible, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood sliced through the Indian top order, reducing them to 51/4 in just 17 overs, trailing Australia by 394 runs.
With KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma not out on 33 and 0 respectively, India must score an additional 246 runs to avoid a follow-on, a situation they haven’t faced since The Oval Test in 2011. However, with rain forecasted for days four and five, India may escape being 2-1 down in the five-match series.
In the morning session, under overcast conditions, Australia’s first innings concluded at a formidable 445, with Alex Carey contributing 70 runs. Jasprit Bumrah secured his sixth wicket to finish with figures of 6-76 in 28 overs, while Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep each claimed a wicket to wrap up Australia’s innings.
Following a brief rain delay, Carey reached his fifty with a boundary against Ravindra Jadeja. Starc entertained by slog-sweeping and hitting boundaries off Jadeja and Bumrah before nicking behind to Rishabh Pant.
This performance also marked Bumrah's 50th Test wicket in Australia, making him the second Indian pacer after Kapil Dev to achieve this milestone. Carey scored boundaries off Akash Deep amidst a 15-minute rain break before Siraj bowled out Nathan Lyon with a full delivery. Carey was the last Australian wicket to fall, pulling to mid-wicket off Akash as Australia firmly held the upper hand in the match.
India's innings started with Yashasvi Jaiswal edging a ball for four off Starc. However, he was dismissed on the next delivery, caught at square leg after flicking a half-volley for just four runs. This marked the third time in the series that Jaiswal fell to the left-arm pacer Starc.
Australia’s bowlers effectively utilized their height to extract uneven bounce, with Hazlewood hitting KL Rahul’s left arm with a length ball. Starc returned to dismiss Shubman Gill, whose drive on a wide delivery was caught by Mitchell Marsh at gully.
Virat Kohli appeared uneasy from the start, beaten by Hazlewood before gloving a sharp bouncer from Starc. After Hazlewood was hit for two boundaries by Rahul, he celebrated when Kohli drove away from his body and nicked to Carey just before rain halted play for lunch.
The post-lunch session featured only eleven balls of action as Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul focused on rotating the strike until rain interrupted again. After the break, Rahul executed a lovely drive off Cummins for four, but Cummins came back strong, forcing Pant to edge behind to Carey for just nine runs, marking the third time Cummins had dismissed Pant in this series.
Rahul struck a boundary off Starc but looked defeated as rain prompted another tea break. The final session yielded only 2.5 overs of play as Rahul and Rohit faced the off-spin of Nathan Lyon and Travis Head, who found turn and bounce. Hopes for more overs were dashed when rain returned, closing a frustrating day of Test cricket.
Brief Scores: Australia 445 in 117.1 overs (Travis Head 152, Steve Smith 101; Jasprit Bumrah 6-76, Mohammed Siraj 2-97) lead India 51/4 in 17 overs (KL Rahul 33 not out; Mitchell Starc 2-25) by 394 runs
