India’s Bowling Efforts Hit by Rain on a Frustrating Opening Day in Brisbane

The third Border-Gavaskar Test in Brisbane began with its opening day getting ruined by rain, making it a disappointment for both players and fans. Because of the non-stop rain, everyone could only see 13.2 overs of play before they had to finish sooner than usual for the day.

India's Choose to Bowl First

At the Gabba, with the pitch showing a green hue and the sky filled with clouds, India decided to field first after winning the toss marking the third time they've chosen this in the series. This choice probably had a lot to do with recent patterns at the Gabba, where the team bowling first has dominated, winning six out of the last seven tests. But, India's fast bowlers were not very good at first, not getting their lines and lengths right. This made it easy for Australia's openers to become comfortable at the crease in the initial 5.3 overs. On his part, Usman Khawaja quickly started showing his form, knocking 13 runs off just 22 balls, ready to take on any ball that wasn't only right.

Interrupted Momentum

When Australia was getting comfortable at the crease, it started to drizzle a bit, and that paused the game; they had to wait for 30 minutes before they could play again. Once the match got back on, India seemed to have a better grip on things, the team changed Harshit Rana with Akash Deep in the XI. Akash Deep started playing with Nathan McSweeney by making the ball swing and bounce in different ways. In the second session, India's bowlers really improved and gave up only 9 runs across 7.5 overs.

Rain Stops Play

Despite Gabba having an excellent outfield drainage system and some moments where it looked as though the rain would stop, it just kept coming back, this messed up the whole situation. The heavy rain started again around lunchtime and didn't let up all afternoon, so by 4:13 PM, they had to call off the event for good. Sadly, the weather controlled everything the whole time.

Who’s In and Who’s Out

India recalibrated things for the test by bringing in Akash Deep and Ravindra Jadeja. Jadeja got the spot instead of Ravi Ashwin, India's spin bowlers have been changed three times in the same number of games. Meanwhile, Australia made some changes too, they got Josh Hazlewood back on the team after he healed from a side muscle injury, and because of that, Scott Boland had to not play now.

Day 1 had some questionable weather destroying things, so both teams are planning to make the best of what's coming next. India really wants the sun to shine more, and to do things correctly when they're bowling and Australia's focus on setting things up strong, if the weather decides to pause.

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