Live: Players forced off for bad light after frantic final day

Captains Pat Cummins and Rohit Sharma come together to shake hands and the Gabba Test match ends, fittingly, in the midst of a rain delay.

It’s a draw.

Ever since the rain inundated the Gabba field and wiped out 85 per cent of the first day’s play, we were always pushing uphill to get a result.

Once the follow-on was gone, it was never likely to happen, even with the outlandish hitting displayed by Australia that really accelerated the game to the tune of a declaration on 7-89 today.

Alas, we end the third Test with the Border-Gavaskar series tied 1-1, with two games left and Australia needing to win the series to regain the trophy it hasn’t held since winning the 2014/15 series.

Another “severe weather is expected any moment” warning appears on the big screen.

Security guards vacate the field and fans are told to scatter for cover in the concourse.

And there’s more to come, which is not quite as pleasing as it could be.

Good for the grass, I guess.

Especially as the forecast looks so good tomorrow.

The only Test that does have a reserve day in case of rain as far as I know is the World Test Championship Final.

But seeing as tours are being ever squeezed by limited over tournaments/competitions, I doubt it will ever happen.

The teams are packing up their gear out under the awnings on the boundary line.

No official word just yet, but the end feels nigh.

Welcome to cricket, New Cricket Viewer.

And pretty much, yes. The pink ball exists for day-night Tests because the red ball is too hard to see under lights, so chucking the lights on and firing an invisible rock-hard leather missile around seems dangerous.

Technically, yes.

But we’re really just waiting for the big handshake between Pat Cummins and Rohit Sharma.

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The ground staff are securing the big cover and battening down the hatches. This is going to be a draw.

The first real drops of rain have arrived and the Queensland Cricket ground staff once again, after delaying the inevitable for as long as possible, finally drag the big white cover over the wicket block.

This is as good as over, folks.

Sounds like you’ve been battered, Steve, and judging by the radar, northern NSW is copping it too.

At the Gabba, however, we’re still yet to get it. It’s coming though.

The clouds are thick overhead and the umpires say it’s too dark to continue. The storm is imminent.

Once again Mitchell Starc’s over is cut short.

Pat Cummins approaches the umpires as they leave the field. It had the air of a man asking ‘How long until we can shake hands and call this a draw?’.

I wonder if Marsh will bowl more than two overs in this innings.

And straight away the 12th man runs the helmet out. Are we anticipating a short leg and some bouncers?

Well played by Jaiswal to start, dropping to the leg side and sneaking through for a single.

Cummins puts someone under the lid for Rahul, but it’s not the usual short leg, Travis Head. Nathan McSweeney is in there and Head isn’t on the field at all. It looked like Head pulled up a little lame while running between the wickets, so that’s a bit of a concern.

Half a shout for LBW as Cummins spears in at the pads, but it was always going down leg.

Rahul drives down the ground and sub fielder Hugh Weibgen tracks it down. No word yet on what’s wrong with Travis Head.

Can he make it through the first over this time?

He defends to start.

The second ball is shorter and Jaiswal toys with pushing at it and just avoids gloving through to Alex Carey.

Jaiswal walks at Starc and drives down the ground but Pat Cummins stops it.

This is going to be a very entertaining innings.

Clipped off the pads by Jaiswal and they get three as Nathan McSweeney chases it down.

Mitch Marsh is back as first-choice gully now. Perhaps they’re expecting him to do some bowling in this innings and don’t want him forced into chasing too many balls to the rope.

But for how long?

Mitchell Starc has the ball in hand. Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul are coming out to bat.

Will India fiddle with its batting order for a more aggressive approach? They probably don’t have to with Rahul as the anchor and Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy all capable of going at a rapid rate.

Sooooo, about that rain.

Yeah, I don’t think we’re getting all 54 overs in this afternoon.

Five balls after getting out, Pat Cummins re-emerges from the sheds to call the batters in.

Australia declares on a measly 7-89, setting India 275 to win this Test.

The rain is expected to arrive soon, but if by some miracle it doesn’t, India will have about 50 overs to chase this down against a tiring attack.

And with the likes of limited-overs guns Yahasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma, this declaration is a pretty good one to entice India to go for it.

He has a sighter and just pushes a single to the off side.

Carey adds one more to the leg side and they’re not turning down singles at this point.

Starc bunts down the ground for one more.

And Carey takes another single to end the over.

Cummins skies one and this time picks out KL Rahul at mid-off.

His entertaining stay ends on 22 off just 10 balls.