Rain Plays Spoil Sport At The Gabba As Play Anticipated To Be Delayed Further Between IND and AUS

The third test between India and Australia begun with overcast conditions as there was a fear that rain could come into play as the day progresses. That fear turned out to be true as the match began and immediately the play had to be stopped due to rain as the covers were brought out. After a short while, play resumed again as Australia continued with their batting. As Australia got closer to the 30 mark target, the rain returned and play had to be stopped again and lunch was called. 

Australian openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney safely negotiated a stop-and-start first session of the third cricket test against India at a rainy Gabba in Brisbane on Saturday.

After India won the toss and sent Australia in to bat, rain first halted play for about 30 minutes in the sixth over. The showers returned about a half-hour later and until the scheduled lunch break.

Khawaja was on 19 and McSweeney 4 and Australia was 28-0 after 13.2 overs.

India made two changes — Ravindra Jadeja and Akash Deep were back in the side, replacing Harshit Rana and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Australia earlier said Josh Hazlewood would return to the starting X1 for the Brisbane test after missing Adelaide with a side strain. Fellow fast bowler Scott Boland was the man dropped in the only change for Australia.

The players to return to action could take some time as heavy rains are still pouring in Brisbane with a lot of water being collected in the grounds. Even if the rain stops, the ground staff will require time to get all of the water out thus there is currently no concrete information on when play will start.  

India won the first test by 295 runs at Perth, Western Australia while Australia came back to win the second day-night test in Adelaide by 10 wickets.