Day 1 was washed out with only 13.2 ov bowled © AFP
Only 13.2 overs were possible on a rain-hit opening day of the Brisbane Test but Australia's openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney emerged through that brief period of play unscathed after Rohit Sharma inserted the hosts into bat.
India won a third toss on the bounce in the series, but this time, under overcast conditions, the visitors decided to bowl after having rung two changes to the playing XI from Adelaide. Akash Deep, on of the two players (Ravindra Jadeda was the other) drafted in, had to wait for his turn to get into the contest as the senior pros Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj went searching for the right lines and lengths on the Gabba surface with a smattering of grass over.
Interestingly, there was not much swing or seam movement to be had in the early exchanges and Khawaja, in particular, was comfortable in putting away deliveries that were either too short or too straight. While Bumrah beat the left-hander on a couple of occasions, only 1 of the first 33 balls bowled by India before the first rain break were projected to hit the stumps. The curious pattern to the play also saw Bumrah bowl just three deliveries at McSweeney, a player he's dismissed three times in this series, over his six-over first spell.
Deep came on as first change soon after a half hour halt in play and enjoyed a sprightly start to proceedings, bowling fuller and finding some swing to go with it. But just as India appeared to be finding their rhythm than the players were forced off once more by a torrential downpour. The Lunch break was taken earlier than the revised timings of the first session after the initial hold-up. But the elements remained unrelenting, wiping out the entire second session. At 4.15 PM local time, the day was eventually called off. Play will resume at 9.50 am local time and a minimum of 98 will be bowled on each of the remaining four days, which all have varying amounts of rain forecast.
Brief scores: Australia 28/0 (Usman Khawaja 19*) vs India
Only 13.2 overs were possible on a rain-hit opening day of the Brisbane Test but Australia's openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney emerged through that brief period of play unscathed after Rohit Sharma inserted the hosts into bat.
India won a third toss on the bounce in the series, but this time, under overcast conditions, the visitors decided to bowl after having rung two changes to the playing XI from Adelaide. Akash Deep, on of the two players (Ravindra Jadeda was the other) drafted in, had to wait for his turn to get into the contest as the senior pros Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj went searching for the right lines and lengths on the Gabba surface with a smattering of grass over.
Interestingly, there was not much swing or seam movement to be had in the early exchanges and Khawaja, in particular, was comfortable in putting away deliveries that were either too short or too straight. While Bumrah beat the left-hander on a couple of occasions, only 1 of the first 33 balls bowled by India before the first rain break were projected to hit the stumps. The curious pattern to the play also saw Bumrah bowl just three deliveries at McSweeney, a player he's dismissed three times in this series, over his six-over first spell.
Deep came on as first change soon after a half hour halt in play and enjoyed a sprightly start to proceedings, bowling fuller and finding some swing to go with it. But just as India appeared to be finding their rhythm than the players were forced off once more by a torrential downpour. The Lunch break was taken earlier than the revised timings of the first session after the initial hold-up. But the elements remained unrelenting, wiping out the entire second session. At 4.15 PM local time, the day was eventually called off. Play will resume at 9.50 am local time and a minimum of 98 will be bowled on each of the remaining four days, which all have varying amounts of rain forecast.
Brief scores: Australia 28/0 (Usman Khawaja 19*) vs India