India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 2 Live Score: Rain to make things tricky for Rohit and co in WTC final race

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 2 Live Score: Follow latest updates

Meanwhile, India and Australia’s much-awaited face-off at the Gabba in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy started off on a damp note, with only 80 deliveries bowled on the morning of the Brisbane Test before play was called off due to regular showers. It isn’t quite the start that either team would have wanted to a match they know could determine the outcome of the series as well as the World Test Championships as a whole. Nevertheless, there will be optimism in both camps, knowing that the cricket in this series has been moving at a rapid rate and could result in an exciting game of cricket even in a contracted spell of time.

The drama on day one began at the toss itself, as visiting captain Rohit Sharma called correctly and caused something of a surprise by choosing to bowl first on a track that is renowned for starting off as paradise for batters before developing into tougher and tougher conditions as the match goes on. Even more surprisingly, Pat Cummins claimed that he too would have chosen to bowl if the toss had gone in his favour, perhaps indicating that both captains and strategy groups were trying to make the best of overcast conditions and some moisture in the pitch.

Nevertheless, India’s opening burst saw them fail to take advantage of those conditions, with the ball not quite doing as much as they would have hoped on the opening morning as the opening duo of Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney looked relatively comfortable against the fresh red ball. India were also not as threatening as they could have been, once again slightly too short in their length and not making the openers play at the deliveries as often as they would have wanted. One good sign for India was Jasprit Bumrah’s pace looking to be back to regular, meaning he had recovered well from his discomfort in the previous match, but he wasn’t as potent and dangerous as in Perth.

India go into the Gabba Test match with two changes to their team personnel, bringing in Akash Deep for Harshit Rana in an attempt to harness his hard-length hitting quality that could be of better use on the Brisbane pitch. They also opted to bring in Ravindra Jadeja for his long-term spin partner Ravichandran Ashwin, meaning India have used three different spin-bowling all-rounders in the first three matches of the series. Jadeja might offer a little more with the bat than Ashwin, and will also add a different angle of attack with his left-arm spin following Ashwin’s struggles with ball in hand.

Meanwhile, Australia go into the match largely unchanged, their only change being to bring Josh Hazlewood back into the fold to replace Scott Boland. While Khawaja and McSweeney started off in a circumspect manner, taking their time against the new ball, they have survived 13.2 overs for no damage to the wickets column. This puts them and the middle order in a strong position heading into the second day of the match, where they can hope for continued batting conditions against a softer ball.

India will be very concerned about allowing the likes of Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith taking advantage of this situation to add on runs, pushing this innings firmly in Australia’s favour even before Travis Head or Mitchell Marsh could further capitalise by wreaking havoc with quick runs. While there is no need to panic for India this early into Australia’s innings, the fact remains that they will be concerned by the potential for Australia to use the Gabba’s typically strong early conditions to rack up the runs and bat India out of the game on a pitch where the visitors will have to bat last.

Here are some pointers regarding India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 2:

– Nitish Kumara Reddy ended Marnus Labuschagne’s misery and dismissed him for 12.

– Jasprit Bumrah got the better of Usman Khawaja early on Day 2 as the Aussie opener returned to pavilion after scoring 21.