Only 13.2 overs were possible on first day of Brisbane Test after heavy rain ended play early

Spectators eagerly anticipating the third round of this Border-Gavaskar Trophy prize fight were forced to wait another day to see any meaningful punches thrown, as torrential Brisbane rain washed away all but 13.2 overs of day one at the Gabba.

If points were being awarded then it was the Australians – and particularly Usman Khawaja – who claimed the majority, going to the close at 0-28 after they were sent in on a pitch still sporting a tinge of green.

Queensland legend Matthew Hayden – proud owner of 19 first-class hundreds on the Gabba centre wicket – said in the Fox Sports match preview it had been a good toss for the hosts to lose, predicting a decent batting strip that would become more challenging as the Test reached its back end.

And when the grey clouds parted as Khawaja and Test rookie Nathan McSweeney made their way to the middle, the home crowd’s hopes of a strong day one total – once a tradition that was about as predictable as a summer thunderstorm here at the Gabba – seemed a reasonable bet.

Queensland captain Khawaja set about giving the Australian innings its early impetus, pulling strongly at every opportunity and even flicking Jasprit Bumrah off his stumps and to the fine leg boundary. 

As he had been on night one in Adelaide, Bumrah was a little inconsistent with his line, while he and his new-ball partner Mohammed Siraj both erred on the shorter side with their length; through the opening 25 minutes, just one of 33 deliveries would have hit the stumps. 

At that point, the players left the field for 30 minutes owing to a passing shower. Only 7.5 overs were bowled thereafter, though that was enough for paceman Akash Deep to make his first appearance in this series. Described by Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle as an ‘Andy Bichel type bowler’, Deep quickly assumed a fuller, Bichel length, even finding a touch of outswing as he enticed McSweeney to go searching.

The new Australia opener kept his partner Khawaja on his toes with a couple of quick singles but again found runs hard to come by; outside of those drop-and-runs, his only other scoring shots came via a couple of tucks off the hip to fine leg.

At 11.50am, when the rain arrived and settled over the Gabba, McSweeney had moved cautiously to four from 33 deliveries. Khawaja, who has come under pressure himself in the lead-up to this Test due largely to the fact he has now gone 27 Test innings without a hundred, had moved confidently to 19. 

And while more rain is forecast in Brisbane for Sunday, the true battle for both batters lies ahead. 

With the series squared at one-all, India captain Rohit Sharma revealed two changes at the coin toss, with Deep in for fellow quick Harshit Rana, and Ravindra Jadeja named in place of Ravichandran Ashwin. 

Australia meanwhile, had named their XI 24 hours earlier, with Josh Hazlewood returning at the expense of the unlucky Scott Boland.

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

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