India vs Australia: Border-Gavaskar’s third Test opens with a close wash | Cricket news

The first day of the third test is a near washout as Australia and India are left battered by rain in Brisbane.

India’s bowlers were left frustrated and wicketless as rain ended day one of the third Test against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.

Australia were 28-0 when play was abandoned, Usman Khawaja unbeaten on 19 and Nathan McSweeney on four after facing just 13.2 overs at a rain-soaked Gabba.

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

The rain returned for lunch and continued until the game was abandoned in the afternoon, changing the crowd of 30,145.

The Gabba pitch was green on a blustery, overcast morning, promising a tough test for Australia’s senior side, but the ball ultimately didn’t do much.

Without checking, opener Bumrah, who hit Khawaja’s bat repeatedly, the Indian pacers were guilty of bowling too short.

Khawaja capitalized, smashing Mohammed Siraj on the fence with a couple of pull shots but the weather denied a more lively crowd.

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

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

Rohit, whose poor form with the bat has increased pressure on his captaincy, will continue to bat at number six, with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal retained as the opening combination.

“There’s a lot of grass and it looks a bit soft so we want to try to use the conditions better and try to see what we can do with the ball up front,” Rohit said after winning the toss, adding that the atmosphere in the Indian dressing room was “intense”.

“The boys are looking forward to the Test match. It was always nice to come here to play some good cricket and yes, if you talk about how everyone feels, they want to come out here and express themselves.”

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