December 14, 2024: The opening day of the third Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia was completely washed out due to relentless rain in Brisbane, with no play after the first session.
At the end of the truncated day, Australia’s score stood at 28/0, with Usman Khawaja (19* off 47 balls) and debutant Nathan McSweeney (4* off 33 balls) unbeaten. Despite rain delays, the match began with high anticipation, but the weather had other plans.
BCCI wrote on X, “Play for Day 1 in Brisbane has been stopped today due to rain. Play will resume tomorrow and all following days at 09:50 AM local time (5:20 AM IST) with minimum 98 overs to be bowled”.
Overcast conditions led to the first rain interruption in the 6th over, halting play for a considerable period. Although play resumed briefly, rain came back in the 14th over and forced another break, ending the day’s play prematurely.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and invited Australia to bat, hoping the cloudy conditions would assist the Indian pacers. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj opened the bowling attack but couldn’t capitalize on the conditions, with the Aussie openers managing to avoid any major threats.
Akash Deep, who replaced Harshit Rana in the playing XI, bowled some testing deliveries to both Khawaja and McSweeney, looking to make inroads with his inward-angling deliveries. However, no breakthroughs came during his brief spell.
With the rain spoiling the entire afternoon, only 13.2 overs were bowled on Day 1. Play will resume on Sunday with the hope that the weather improves, and a full day of cricket can take place.
The BCCI confirmed that play will resume on Sunday at 09:50 AM local time (5:20 AM IST), with a minimum of 98 overs to be bowled over the remaining days. The rain delays have left both teams with plenty of work to do, and fans will be hoping for better weather as the game progresses.
