The Bureau of Meteorology of Australia has reported on Monday that there are 90% chances of rain on the last two days of the Brisbane Test played between the Baggy Greens and India which is Tuesday and Wednesday. The Bureau of Meteorology website also reported that on Tuesday there will be possible rainfall of 5 to 30 mm whereas on the other hand, the possibility of rain is 2 to 25 mm. Earlier on Monday, rain stopped play in the third session of Day 3 of the ongoing Test match at The Gabba on Monday as India still trailed Australia’s score by 394 runs. At Stumps on Day 3, the visitors are struggling at 51/4 with right-hand batter KL Rahul (33*) and team skipper Rohit Sharma (0*) unbeaten at the crease.

The Rohit Sharma-led side resumed the third session from 48/4, trailing by 397 runs, with KL Rahul and skipper Rohit Sharma unbeaten with scores of 30 (52) and 0 (1), respectively.

Most of the third session was washed out as the rain continued to fall throughout the session. This third and final session of the day only witnessed three overs where the Indian side were able to score just three runs.

Earlier in the second session, the rain interrupted play, but Pant remained consistent in his approach of picking up runs on loose deliveries that fell in his hitting arc.

As Pant and Rahul started to gain momentum with the odds stacked against them, rain once again came in to stall play. The duo returned to the pitch once the rain let off.

Rahul arguably played the shot of the day with a cover drive straight out of the cricket textbooks off Cummins. With the scoreboard regularly ticking and the partnership becoming a threat to the Australians, Cummins upped the ante to extend the dominance exuded by the hosts.

The Australian skipper had worked out his angles and pitched the delivery beautifully to draw Pant (9) out. He nipped the ball away from Pant enough to catch the outside edge straight through to Carey.

Rahul tried to take the fight back by reeling off a four off Mitchell Starc, which turned out to be the final action in the second session.

In the first session of Day 3, a start-stop session utterly dominated by Australia, Indian players were once again asked to reflect on their flaws as the impending doom of defeat started to linger in Brisbane. It was A-Lister Jasprit Bumrah who paved the way for India by removing Mitchell Starc in the opening hour. Starc looked deadly the moment he smoked the ball into the stand with a picture-perfect slog-sweep off Ravindra Jadeja.

Bumrah sensed the threat radiating from the Starc and forced out an edge from the southpaw in the next over. Starc’s feet were stuck on the ground as he attempted to push the ball away. A loose waft from the Australian was enough to pick up a nick as the ball travelled into the safe gloves of Rishabh Pant.

With Alex Carey on the field, Nathan Lyon resisted the temptation to go after the Indian attack, as rain made its presence felt at irregular intervals.

With the tempo of the day set, Mohammed Siraj broke the shackles and managed to breach Lyon’s defence to hit the middle stump.

With just a wicket left, Carey decided to charge at Akash Deep but ended up mistiming his shot, forcing Australia to wrap up its inning on 445.

In reply, Indian batters continued to live through the nightmares inflicted in Adelaide, with Starc being the driving force of the Australian pace attack.

His first victim of the day was Yashasvi Jaiswal, a player he has developed a rivalry with since the Perth Test. The young Indian southpaw managed to avoid a golden duck by edging the ball to the boundary, but Starc retaliated by swinging the ball and using the scrambled seam delivery to its effective use.

He picked up Jaiswal’s wicket on his second ball of the match after the Indian chipped it away straight into Mitchell Marsh‘s hands. Shubman Gill (1) was next to return cheaply after he edged it away to Marsh, who took a flight and snaffled it with both hands.

Virat Kohli (3) soon joined the duo’s company after being tempted by Hazlewood to chase the outside off delivery and edge it away towards the wicketkeeper.

Brief Score: Australia 445 (Travis Head 152, Steven Smith 151; Jasprit Bumrah 6-76) vs India 51/4 (KL Rahul 33*; Mitchell Starc 2-25).

The Gabba saw a big downpour on Day 1 of the India vs Australia 3rd Test.© AFP

Only 13.2 overs were bowled on Day 1 of the 3rd Test between India and Australia with rain causing an early suspension to the day’s play on Saturday. Put into bat by India captain Rohit Sharma, Australia finished the day on 28-0 with Usman Khawaja 19 not out and Nathan McSweeney unbeaten on four. The rain persisted throughout the day and the umpires eventually called off play midway through the final session. To make up for the lost overs, the play will begin 30 minutes prior (5:20 AM IST) to the scheduled start (5:50 AM IST), but only if the weather allows.

There was plenty of rain in Brisbane in the lead up to the match, before clear sky appeared on the eve of the match, raising hopes of a full day’s play on Saturday.

As as per the forecast, the rain is likely to return on Day 2 as per the Australian government’s Bureau of Meteorology.

“Partly cloudy. Medium chance of showers, most likely in the morning and afternoon. Light winds becoming southeasterly 15 to 25 km/h in the morning then becoming light in the evening,” the forecast suggested.

The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued a red alert, as per Accuweather, with “minor flood warning”. There is more than 50 per cent chance of rain on Sunday.

Here’s the hourly weather forecast of Brisbane for Sunday:

After a week of downpours in Brisbane, Rohit would have expected plenty of movement from his opening bowlers, but they struggled to find their length.

Spearhead Jasprit Bumrah appeared down on pace early and Mohammed Siraj was equally unthreatening.

The forecasted rain first came 25 minutes into the day’s play, causing a half-hour delay, and when the players returned Akash Deep at last found the perfect length with movement in the air and off the wicket.

He troubled McSweeney in particular, but 35 minutes later much heavier rain sent the players from the field for the second time.

(With AFP Inputs)

Team India will look to bounce from a 10-wicket defeat as they take on Australia in the third Test of a five-match series, starting Saturday at the Gabba in Brisbane. The series is tied at 1-1 as India won the series-opener by 295 runs in Perth, before Australia outplayed them in the pink-ball Test last week. India are likely to make a couple of changes with Akash Deep and Washington Sundar likely to get the nod over Ravichandran Ashwin and Harshit Rana, respectively.

However, dark clouds of uncertainity loom over the Gabba as the weather forecast predicts high chance of rain in the morning. The match is scheduled to start at 5:50 AM IST (10:20 local time) and there is a high chance that the toss might get delayed.

As per AccuWeather, the rain is likely to arrive at 9 AM local time, which is close to the toss time (9:50 AM). However, the weather is likely to improve during the afternoon and evening sessions. The temprature is likely to fluctuate between 24-30 degree Celsius, with an 88 per cent chance of rain around toss time.

Here’s the hourly weather update on Day 1 (Local time):

Australia have confirmed their playing XI for the match as Josh Hazlewood is back in the mix, replacing fellow quick Scott Boland.

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal.

File image of The Gabba.© X (Twitter)