The third Test between Australia and India in Brisbane ended in a draw after storms halted the hosts’ bid for an unlikely win Wednesday to leave the series locked 1-1. Early tea was taken on the final day at the Gabba because of bad light with India 8-0 having been set a target of 275 for victory, after Australia declared on 89-7. But a big storm swept over the ground during the break and play was abandoned, with the five-Test series now heading to Melbourne and then Sydney.

The draw badly hurts India’s chances of making the final of the World Test Championship at Lord’s next year, with Australia now likely to defend their title against South Africa.

“Unfortunately a lot of rain, which you can’t do anything about, but really happy with how the guys played,” said Australia skipper Pat Cummins.

“To put 450 (first innings) on is a huge total and then felt like we’re right ahead of the game for all of it.”

With rain causing regular disruptions throughout the Test, the chance of a result other than a draw looked to have disappeared when India avoided the follow-on late on Tuesday.

“I mean, we’ll take that obviously, to have interruptions like that wasn’t great,” said India skipper Rohit Sharma.

“But going to Melbourne with one-all pretty much gives us that confidence that we can go out there and try and pull things towards us.”

Carnage

After losing most of the morning session, Australia began their second innings after lunch showing no signs of an attacking approach.

But once under-pressure openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney fell, along with the equally out-of-form Marnus Labuschagne, the Australian approach seemed to change as the batsmen started to attack every ball.

Khawaja, who turned 38 on Wednesday, came into the second innings after a run of poor form which has seen him not score a century since June 2023.

He spanked two fours from the first over he faced from Mohammed Siraj but it took the talismanic Jasprit Bumrah just one ball to get his man, the left-hander bowled off an inside edge that also clipped his pad.

Labuschagne was next to go after wafting at a wide ball from Bumrah and edging to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant. 

The carnage continued when McSweeney played a cut shot off Akash Deep, edging to Pant to leave the Australians 16-3.

Deep had his second when Mitchell Marsh, promoted to bat at number four, also left his bat hanging and edged to Pant, with Australia staggering at 28-4.

That became 33-5 when Steve Smith was well caught by a diving Pant down the leg side off Siraj for four.

Australia were obviously trying to set a target for the Indians to chase and Travis Head (17) fell going for quick runs, a wild slog off Siraj getting a top edge that flew skywards for Pant to come around for his fifth catch.

Cummins came in and smashed 22 runs off just 10 balls before miscuing an attempted pull shot off Bumrah and holing out to KL Rahul at mid-off.

He sent Mitchell Starc out but declared soon after.

India resumed the day on 252-9 in reply to the hosts’ 445 after a 10th-wicket partnership between Bumrah and Deep late Tuesday allowed them to avoid the follow-on.

They were dismissed for 260 four overs into the first session when Deep was stumped by wicketkeeper Alex Carey off part-time spinner Head.

After winning the opening Test with flying colours by 295 runs, Team India faced a major setback and lost the second match by 10 wickets in Adelaide. As the five-match series is currently levelled 1-1, Rohit Sharma will look to bounce back in the third Test which will be played in Brisbane from Saturday. The pink-ball Test in Adelaide marked the return of skipper Rohit, who missed the first match due to the birth of his second child. However, the Indian skipper failed to leave a mark as he scored only three and six runs.

Rohit’s elegance and Virat Kohli‘s class will face the ultimate ‘Test’ when India take on an Australian team eager to set the record straight on a spicy Gabba track.

In bowling, India has Jasprit Bumrah, who has made every other bowler in the series look pedestrian in his comparison.

He definitely needs more support at the other end but more than that, he needs runs from the likes of Rohit and Kohli as a psychological cushion while breezing in to unleash his thunderbolts.

India’s biggest issue has been terrible first innings batting during the past one year in both home and away fixtures with six totals of 150 or less during the period .

And Rohit and Kohli’s first innings average in the 2024-25 season reads a rather poor 6.88 and 10 respectively.

Kohli has managed to get rid of some pressure with a hundred on the eased-up Perth track. But for Rohit, a captain’s knock is needed not just to boost his confidence but also help him assert as a leader who shows the way.

Senior off-spinner R Ashwin was chosen over Washington Sundar in the second Test. However, the visitors are likely to rope in Sundar for the Gabba Test.

As far as pace bowling is concerned, India are likely to play Akash Deep after Harshit Rana‘s mediocre outing in Adelaide.

India’s Predicted XI: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

(With PTI Inputs)