In a piece of news that brought a big relief to the Australian camp and their fans, batting star Travis Head played down concerns about his groin injury, saying he would be fit for the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Travis Head appeared to struggle with his groin while batting on Day 5 of the third Test at Gabba on Wednesday, December 18.
Travis Head revealed he has had the groin issue for quite some time. After scoring his second successive hundred of the series in the first innings of the Gabba Test, Travis Head managed a 19-ball 17 in the second innings when Australia were looking for quick runs. Travis Head was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj when the Indian pacer tested him a bouncer. Travis Head appeared gingerly during his second innings with the bat.
Travis Head is the leading run-getter in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy with 409 runs. The left-handed middle-order batter has been a thorn in the flesh for India ever since the World Test Championship final. Travis Head’s 140 off just 141 deliveries set up Australia’s comeback win in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide. Travis Head did not field during the Indian second innings which lasted just 2.1 overs before rain forced an early end to Day 5 of the Test match.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : “The overhead conditions are challenging, it’s been wet going into the game. Cloudy conditions, there’ll be plenty of assistance for the pacers, movement off the pitch, plenty of carry and batting shouldn’t be easy. You need to respect the bowlers in the first two hours and then there are runs on this surface. Going further, spin will play a role going into the 4th and 5th days, it’s a bowl first pitch,” reckons Matthew Hayden and Sunil Gavaskar, in their pitch report.
Toss : Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bowl with two changes in the playing XI bringing in Akash Deep and Ravindra Jadeja for Harshit Rana and Ravichandran Ashwin. Australia skipper Pat Cummins batting first bought in Josh Hazlewood for Scott Boland in the playing XI.
Day 1 : Rain plays spoilsport on the opening day in Brisbane
Only 13.2 overs were possible on a rain-hit opening day of the Brisbane Test but Australia’s openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney emerged through that brief period of play unscathed after Rohit Sharma inserted the hosts into bat.
India won a third toss on the bounce in the series, but this time, under overcast conditions, the visitors decided to bowl after having rung two changes to the playing XI from Adelaide. Akash Deep, on of the two players (Ravindra Jadeda was the other) drafted in, had to wait for his turn to get into the contest as the senior pros Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj went searching for the right lines and lengths on the Gabba surface with a smattering of grass over.
Interestingly, there was not much swing or seam movement to be had in the early exchanges and Khawaja, in particular, was comfortable in putting away deliveries that were either too short or too straight. While Bumrah beat the left-hander on a couple of occasions, only 1 of the first 33 balls bowled by India before the first rain break were projected to hit the stumps. The curious pattern to the play also saw Bumrah bowl just three deliveries at McSweeney, a player he’s dismissed three times in this series, over his six-over first spell.
Deep came on as first change soon after a half hour halt in play and enjoyed a sprightly start to proceedings, bowling fuller and finding some swing to go with it. But just as India appeared to be finding their rhythm than the players were forced off once more by a torrential downpour.
The Lunch break was taken earlier than the revised timings of the first session after the initial hold-up. But the elements remained unrelenting, wiping out the entire second session. At 4.15 PM local time, the day was eventually called off. Play will resume at 9.50 am local time and a minimum of 98 will be bowled on each of the remaining four days, which all have varying amounts of rain forecast.
Day 2 : Tons from Travis Head, Steve Smith put Australia in the box seat on Day 2
Travis Head and Steve Smith scored centuries as the duo laid into India’s bowling on a largely well-mannered surface at The Gabba, to put Australia in the box seat to dictate proceedings for the three remaining days of the Brisbane Test. Travis Head continued to be the scourge of India as his 160-ball 152 marked his third ton in six innings against India, including two from the last two.
Smith has historically enjoyed playing India in this format and got to his 10th ton against them, and 33rd overall, but his battling 101 was just his first three-figure score in a lean 2024, ending a sequence of low scores. The pair’s 241-run stand for the fourth wicket either side of Jasprit Bumrah’s bursts that led to another five-fer – his 12th in just 43 Tests – took the hosts to a commanding 405 for 7 at Stumps.
The Travis Head-Smith partnership, that spanned just three deliveries short of 50 overs, served not only to put the hosts in the ascendancy at a delicate juncture of the series but also shone a harsh spotlight on some of India’s decision making, including the one to bowl first. More crucially, the visitors were also left to ponder their bowling resources and depth for the conditions.
Between them, India’s fourth and fifth bowlers – Nitish Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja – bowled 29 overs for 141 runs and one wicket while Mohammed Siraj, the other lead pacer, battled cramps in humid conditions and returned a solitary wicket while going at 4.34 runs to the over.
Bumrah though continued to be the gold standard of fast bowling. After the gloom of the opening day, the early start to Day 2 was marked by a refreshing shade of powdery blue above The Gabba. It also brought out an elevated version of India’s bowling talisman. He had bowled slightly straighter and slightly shorter at Usman Khawaja through his six overs on the opening day, but the anticipated course correction came early as he produced a dreamy spell upfront.
Operating on the fuller side of the good length band between six and eight meters, Bumrah forced Khawaja to come forward but the length was still not full enough to drive. Playing on the batter’s indecision, he beat Khawaja on the inside edge and then twice on the outside edge in his very first over. He then struck with the first ball of his next as Khawaja tentatively poked at a ball in the fourth-stump channel that straightened to kiss the edge on it’s way to Rishabh Pant for the ‘keeper’s 150th dismissal behind the stumps.
The other opener, Nathan McSweeney, had gotten away on the opening day by facing just three balls from Bumrah. He faced only two more this morning before he edged a ball that straightened against the angle to second slip. That dismissal gave Bumrah a stunning average of 4.28 against Australia’s openers in this series for a total of seven dismissals (McSweeney 4, Khawaja 3) in just three Tests. India also had a third wicket in the morning session when Nitish got Marnus Labuschagne to edge a floaty, full and wide ball to second slip.
At 75 for 3, India were on top and they also had a typically fidgety Smith on tenterhooks as he went back to employ his exaggerated back-and-across shuffle. The veteran batter suffered a couple of nervy moments early, most notably when he shouldered arms to a nip-backer from Siraj and was saved by the ‘Umpire’s Call’. Smith also managed to get a little inside on to his pads to a full ball from the excellent Akash Deep, who induced several false shots from the former captain without any luck.
What worked in Smith’s favour though was that Head arrived and almost immediately created a split focus in India, who tried to nip another counter-attacking innings from him in the bud, which included a fielder at deep point immediately upon the southpaw’s arrival to the crease.
The game changed complexion in the wicketless post-lunch session, which began with a ball that was already 43-overs-old. In just the first hour, the pair of Head and Smith managed to add 54 risk-free runs.
Bumrah bowled just two of those 13 overs before making way for Akash Deep to swap to his end. That didn’t change the Bengal seamer’s fortunes as he continued to draw false responses without finding the edge. At one point, he beat Smith off two successive deliveries and then pinged him on the pads with one that was angled into the right-hander. India reviewed in hope but saw the projected path of the ball to be missing the stumps.
At the other end though, India found barely anything to trouble Travis Head, who raced away to a third straight 50+ score in the series. Even with deep point plugged, Travis Head had other avenues to motor along. Ravindra Jadeja was brought on after 48 overs and with not much spin on offer, the left-arm spinner was hit over mid-off for a pair of boundaries. Travis Head had six boundaries enroute to his fifty, which he got off 71 balls before seamlessly unlocking the higher gears to his game.
Travis Head took apart the pair of Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj, scoring 31 off 40 deliveries from the former. Siraj’s five over spell in the session, meanwhile, cost 30 runs. The seamer attempted to use the short ball but couldn’t get the ball up near the batter’s armpits and Travis Head could both ramp the balls over the cordon, or pull between two fielders on the legside for as many as four boundaries.
With the field spread out, there were also easy singles for Travis Head to take as he milked an attack that appeared consigned to wait for the second new ball.
Between overs 60 and 80, Australia plundered 127 runs, including 63 in the first 10 overs after the Tea break leading into the second new ball. Travis Head needed only 44 balls to go from 50 to 100 while Smith, having got to his half-century off 128 balls, took only 57 more for his second fifty managing his own highlight reel of all his famous hits along the way. Eventually, it took another Bumrah spell with the second new ball to bring India a semblance of control.
He took three wickets in a span of 12 balls, all to catches behind the wicket, to complete a superb five-fer, his second of the series to go with another four-fer in Adelaide. But even after slipping to 327 for 6, the end of another Bumrah spell was the signal for Australia to cash in on the rest and, the pair of Alex Carey and Pat Cummins added another 58 runs for the seventh wicket, with the former finishing unbeaten on 45 off 47 at the close of play.
Day 3 : Jasprit Bumrah’s 6-Wicket Haul Only The Lightning Spark For India As Aussie Quicks Derail Indian Batting Unit On A Rain Marred Day 3
At least one result – India win – was virtually written off after a heavily truncated third day’s play in Brisbane which saw only 33.1 overs of stop-start action. Even with just two days left in the game with forecasts for more rain, Australia will entertain thoughts of pushing for a 2-1 series lead after their fast bowlers led by Mitchell Starc reduced India to 51 for 4 in 17 overs after the hosts posted 445 in the first innings.
India’s batters weren’t helped by the fact that they had to restart and reapply after several breaks on a surface that Australia’s taller set of bowlers could extract a lot more jeopardy out of. Even so, some of the visitors’ shot-making left a lot to be desired, a trend in keeping with their recent struggles in the format.
Yashasvi Jaiswal fell to the second ball of the innings when he clipped a full delivery from Mitchell Starc straight to Mitchell Marsh at square leg. The same bowler-fielder combination also accounted for Shubman Gill, who drove at a full and wide delivery without transferring his weight completely onto his front foot.
Kohli was tasked with putting the innings in order but after being troubled by deliveries in the channel as well as a short ball, he drove loosely at a Josh Hazlewood delivery to be dismissed for 3. Another downpour began straight after his dismissal leading to an earlier than usual lunch interval.
The rains returned 11 balls into the start of the second session and then again after another 3.5 overs. Five balls into another restart, India lost Rishabh Pant when he poked at a length delivery from Pat Cummins angled across him. Another spell of torrential rain led to a break for nearly two and a half hours either side of the scheduled Tea break, after which the players returned for a couple of overs of spin under fading light before another drizzle forced the players off for good this time.
Between the rain breaks and the stumble, KL Rahul worked himself to an unbeaten 33, playing a series of pleasing cover drives despite copping a painful blow to his left wrist early in his innings.
Almost all of the action in the day’s play took place in the extended first session during which Australia added 40 runs to their overnight score of 405 in a little over an hour before India took the last of the three remaining wickets.
After a five-minute delay to start proceedings because of rain, Alex Carey completed a 53-ball half-century with a well-swept boundary off Ravindra Jadeja. Starc swung a six and a four before nicking off against Jasprit Bumrah, giving India’s bowling leader his sixth wicket of the innings. That also took Bumrah’s Test tally in Australia to 50 wickets, a feat only Kapil Dev had achieved for India before.
The next 10 overs, either side of another 14-minute rain delay, brought only 22 runs with Australia happy to bide their time in a bid for a bat-once total. India spread their field out for Carey and used the period to manage Bumrah’s workload, taking him off the attack after a three-over spell. Eventually,
Mohammed Siraj bowled a full delivery and breached Nathan Lyon’s defenses before Akash Deep had Carey caught at deep mid-wicket for 70 with a short ball for his only wicket at the end of 29.5 overs of toil.
Day 4 : Rahul, Jadeja, last wicket stand ensure India avoid follow-on on thrilling Day 4
Australia were down to just two frontline pacers, saw more overs taken out of the game by rain and had their victory push thwarted by solid half-centuries from KL Rahul (85) and Ravindra Jadeja (77) as well as a dogged and rousing unbeaten 39-run stand for the last wicket between Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah that helped India avoid the follow-on.
India ended the day still 193 adrift of Australia’s first-innings total of 445 but the hosts will now have a maximum of 98 overs, weather permitting, to close out India’s innings, build a quick lead and then give their Hazlewood-less bowling attack enough time and cushion to push for victory while ensuring India don’t have a sniff either.
In the absence of their fast bowling partner, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc toiled for 18.5 and 16 overs respectively of the 54.5 bowled on the fourth day and might have even paved the doors for victory with a little bit of luck. Cummins was denied off the very first ball of the day’s play when Rahul, resuming on 33, edged a length ball only for Steve Smith to put down a regulation chance at second slip.
Viewed with the benefit of hindsight, it turned out to be a pivotal moment in the day for India, whose batting travails in a heavily-truncated third day’s play meant they already faced a tough prospect to get to 246 – the magic number that would force Australia to bat again and ensure further time taken away from the game. India recovered from almost being 51 for 5 before eventually being reduced to 74 for 5 inside that first hour of play.
Captain Rohit Sharma, the other overnight batter, was made to pay for his first mistake after being worked over by Cummins in his probing five-over burst. The Australia skipper played with the out-of-form Rohit’s weight transfers by bowling a sharp, short ball before a follow-up full delivery, which as it turned out wasn’t full enough for the drive. Sensing a rare scoring opportunity, Rohit reached for it and feathered an edge to the ‘keeper with the ball still only 23 overs old.
It was then that Rahul and Jadeja got together to stitch India’s best partnership of the innings. Both batters batted with great control with Rahul, in particular, continuing to make good decisions after getting into good positions with his technique. He picked only the really full deliveries for his shots as well as favoring the square drive to the more expansive variant towards extra cover. He waited for the bowlers to bowl straighter to him, which he then flicked, tucked away or on-drove.
As has been the case through the series, batting got significantly easier once the ball was more than 30-overs-old and Rahul and Jadeja added risk-free runs before the 67-run stand was ended against the run of play by Smith, who atoned for his earlier drop by anticipating and leaping to his right to hold on to Rahul’s attempted cut off Nathan Lyon.
Jadeja set about putting together another half-century stand with Nitish Reddy, as Australia now faced a race against time with only 13.2 overs of play possible through the middle session during which time Jadeja, playing his first game of the series, got to his 22nd Test match fifty.
The seventh-wicket pair managed to see off a Starc spell after 67-minute rain delay but weren’t as lucky against Cummins, who produced a nip backer to Reddy that dislodged his bails via an inside edge. At that stage, India still needed 51 to avoid the follow on with only the three fast bowlers left to partner Jadeja.
India had Siraj batting at No.9 and Jadeja’s decision to leave him to face six deliveries from Starc proved to be a mistake as the left-arm quick found the outside edge of the tailender for a sharp catch behind the stumps. Jadeja tried to farm the strike with Bumrah and managed to add a six off Lyon followed by a fortuitous four off Cummins before a well laid out short ball plan ended the all-rounder’s innings on 77, with Cummins grabbing his fourth wicket.
At that stage India were still 33 runs away from making Australia bat again, but Deep and Bumrah held firm against a two-man pace attack that was now visibly crumbling under the bowling loads it had undertaken. Bumrah got inside the line to a Cummins bouncer and pulled him for a six before starting to calmly nudge singles in the gaps. Deep added another crucial boundary by slashing Starc over the cordon.
India had come to within 14 runs off the follow-on mark when Cummins was forced to go back to Lyon to replace Starc. The Australia captain willed himself on to keep bowling from the other end in search of the last wicket, which would have brought him another five-fer, and ended up conceding seven runs off his 20th over.
In his 21st, he was edged over the cordon for a four by Deep which took India past the important milestone. As if to celebrate the moment, which was marked with much gusto in the Indian dressing room, Deep slogged Cummins for a six over deep mid-wicket before the umpires took the players off for bad light.
Day 5 : Rain has final say in Brisbane as both teams head to Melbourne at 1-1
Australia and India will go into the Boxing Day Test level on the scoreline after the third Test in Brisbane ended in a draw after more bad weather reduced play on the fifth day to just 24.1 overs. The decision was made shortly after the Tea break, which was advanced as players went off the field due to poor light and impending rain. India were 8 for 0 in the fourth innings after being set to get 275 in about 54 overs.
In all, the Gabba Test saw only 216.1 overs of action, which, in normal circumstances, should have been midway through the third day of the Test. But the game was severely affected by the weather right from the get go with only 13.2 overs of play possible on Day 1, and just 33.1 on the third day. Australia still found themselves windows to push for a series lead after they racked up 445 in their first innings and had India down to 74 for 5 in response.
The visitors though were rescued by the weather, and the fact that Australia were down to just two frontline fast bowlers after Josh Hazlewood pulled up with a calf strain. They were also bailed out by crucial half-centuries from KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja as well as a dogged and rousing 47-run 10th wicket stand between Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah that helped the visitors avoid the follow-on late on Day 4.
Australia still tried to turn their overall dominance into a win that was constantly being thwarted by the elements. In a manic post-lunch session on the final after only four overs were possible in the morning, their batters tried to go hard at the bowling and in the process even allowed India a little peek at an outlandish victory.
After taking the final India wicket four overs into the day’s play and securing a 185-run first-innings lead, Australia made one final push for victory, going hard at India’s bowling, losing quick wickets in the process, and declaring at 89 for 7 after 18 helter-skelter third-innings overs. That left India with a target of 275 in a theoretical 54 overs. Only 2.1 were possible, as bad light drove the players off the field before rain came back down to signal an early finish.
After Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Usman Khawaja for the fourth time in the series by ratting his stumps from around the wicket, India quickly reduced the hosts to 33 for 5 as Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj got among the wickets against Australian batters happy to swing for the fences.
Australia’s brief innings on day five gave a glimpse of all the possible rain-free finishes this match could have had. There was pronounced seam movement and uneven bounce, and Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj ripped out five wickets in the space of 11 overs. But some of the wickets also came from Australia’s intent to score quickly.
They promoted Mitchell Marsh to No. 4, batted Travis Head above Steven Smith, and kept going for their shots. The runs came at a fair rate too, with the pace of the pitch allowing Travis Head, Alex Carey and Pat Cummins to rattle off a combined 59 off 49 balls.
Travis Head and Alex Carey added a quickfire 27-run partnership off 22 balls before Pat Cummins clubbed two sixes and as many fours in his 10-ball 22. Ultimately it came down to how many overs Australia thought was enough to force a result with their three-man attack. They eventually declared at 89/7. But India’s openers serenely saw off 2.1 overs before bad light forced the players off for one last time in the Test.
Australia’s declaration harked back to the 1950 Test on this same ground, when England declared at 68 for 7 and then Australia at 32 for 7 as both teams tried to make the best of a sticky pitch after a spell of rain. Such events are exceedingly rare in the days of covered pitches, but something not too dissimilar happened on this day with Australia declaring at 89 for 7.
One man who may have been a touch displeased at that point was Bumrah; he had just come back for a new spell and dismissed Cummins with a clever slower ball. It was his ninth wicket of the match, and he was so close to bagging his first ten-for, one of the few feats he has yet to achieve in his remarkable career.
Given all the help for the new ball, Australia could have envisioned bowling India out. Given the scope for run-scoring, and the fact that Australia were without one of their three fast bowlers, India could have imagined making a bid for victory if they managed to see off the early overs relatively unscathed. As it happened, the draw may have been the best result for the series going forward, with two Tests to go and the teams locked 1-1 on Boxing Day.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Rohit Sharma the Indian skipper said : I mean, we will take that. Obviously to have interruptions like that wasn’t great, but going to Melbourne at 1-1 pretty much gives us that confidence to go out there and pull things towards us. The situation we were in just after lunch (on Day 4), needed someone to stand up and take us through, we knew with the weather, we knew it wasn’t going to be a full game.
Credit to Jadeja, the way he played and Rahul, the way he played was magnificent at the top of the order. the fight that Akash Deep and Bumrah was great to watch, we have seen them work so hard at the nets (on their batting).
Coming to the bowling, Bumrah was outstanding, Akash Deep is a feisty cricketer, always wants to be involved in the game, very new to international cricket, he has worked hard at the nets, still new to international cricket, but he has put in the hard yards, there are people in the group to put their hand across and help him going forward. As he showed with the bat, these are the sort of characters we needed in the team.
Pat Cummins the Australian skipper said : Would be better to be 2-1, lot of rain, nothing we can do about it. We set a huge total and felt like we were right ahead of the game throughout. Poor Josh (Hazlewood), one of those things, few rain breaks probably helped, Starc and I were able to push through.
Day 5 here can be up and down, there wasn’t much cricket played on it, felt challenging when the ball was new and hard. Smith and Head’s innings’ were fantastic, Alex Carey too. Lyon looked really good, Starc got wickets, just about ticked off every box. (On the full-house expected at the MCG on boxing-day) That will be amazing, one of those things here in Australia that you wake up and can’t wait for.
Travis Head Player of the Match for his superb 152 runs said : Feels like I batted quite a while ago to be honest. Happy to contribute, nice to get some runs and set us up in the first innings. Challenging wicket, worked through the gears well, pleased I was able to get through and set the team up. Was trying to sum up the conditions, feel like I’ve done that well in this series so far, very happy with the tempo I’m batting with.
Pretty relaxed communication, feel like he (Smith) was in great rhythm, gives me great confidence when batting with him, was a nice partnership, really enjoyed it. When I first get out there, I try and navigate different challenges, solve different problems. Just a little sore but I should be fine (before the next game).
Breaking News for all the cricket fans round the world : Ravichandran Ashwin has just announced his retirement from international cricket effective immediately
The match has been drawn. They’ve decided to call time because it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better. A pretty dismal finish to the game but not an unexpected one. The excitement was starting to build up and we had a couple of incredible little sessions of play today before rain had the final say. We’re only left wondering about what ifs. With India set a 275-run target and with about 40 overs realistically left before they went off, it would have made for a cracking finish had things not been curtailed today.
India actually had a great morning. Australia came out with an intent to attack and it sort of backfired. Wickets tumbled quickly as India bowled with great assertion and that meant that although Australia batted and eventually declared for 89/7 after 18 overs, they wouldn’t have felt good about how things transpired. As it stands, both teams will leave The Gabba 1-1. Two more riveting Test matches to come though and the series couldn’t be set up any better.
So that rounds out things at The Gabba. A rather sad finish really as the game reached a glum conclusion and it was followed by Ashwin’s retirement. Don’t let that take the sheen away from what’s already been and promises to continue being a cracking series. India showed great fight and character towards the latter end of this game after being under the pump. Now we wait for Boxing Day and the MCG. News is that it’s already a sell-out and there are few better settings for some cricket than a full house at the MCG.