Highlights - Rain has the last word after Australia's sporting declaration

Off they go with India 8 for no loss in 2.1 overs. An early tea has been taken at the Gabba.

And that will be all. Just 24.1 overs possible on day five. A pity, because we had some helter-skelter action and a declaration from Australia that set things up so nicely for a grandstand finish. But we always knew the rain would win in the end.

In all, just 216.1 overs were possible over five days at the Gabba. We had a lot of gripping cricket in those overs, but unfortunately both teams ran out of time to push this game towards what could have been an intriguing conclusion. We hope you enjoyed this live report, and the rest of our coverage (of which there will be plenty more soon). Until Boxing Day, then, goodbye!

Australia have declared at 89 for 7, after a highly eventful, 18-over third innings. Fifty-four overs will remain in the day after the change of innings, but how many will we actually get?

If the rain stays away, this could be a hugely intriguing chase. There's quite a bit of up-and-down bounce now, and Starc and Cummins could potentially extract even more of it than India's quicks did. There will be plenty of seam movement too, and it could last at least half of India's overs. But the pace of the pitch also means the ball will come onto the bat, and make quick run-scoring possible. And Australia only have three genuine bowlers.

Absolutely no half-measures from Australia's captain. He's walked out and tried to club every ball he's faced to the boundary. He's pulled off some incredible flat-bat hits already, and rushed to 22 off nine balls. Australia are 85 for 6, ahead by 270 with a possible 55 (57 - 2) overs remaining in the day. We're probably not going to get anything close to that, given how the weather radar looks.

And Bumrah returns and gets Cummins first ball. Clever use of the wide slower ball, inducing a miscue that KL Rahul catches in the region of short extra-cover. Cummins is out for 22 off 10. Australia are 85 for 7.

Travis Head departs, after a rollicking stand of 27, off 22 balls, with Alex Carey. Siraj gets him with a well-directed short ball angling across him and finishing over his back shoulder. Can't control the pull, and he gets a steepling top edge that Pant gets under in the gully region. Fifth catch of the innings for India's keeper.

Just look at this scorecard. Fun times from the days of uncovered pitches.

It might not be a bad idea for Australia to declare in a little while, though, given that their lead is already up to 230. Sixty overs (58 once you take away two for the change-over) theoretically remain in this Test match after this one from Akash. The new ball is doing all kinds of things off this surface, so a 50-over chase at upwards of five an over would be incredibly tricky if India do go for it.

Wow. Who had this on their bingo card? Australia are 33 for 5, and Smith has strangled one down the leg side for the second time in the series. Terrific catch from Pant, flings himself full-length to his left to pick uo his fourth of the innings.

Siraj gets his first of the innings, one of those scrambled-seam offcutters, I think, may have played some part in Smith not getting as much bat on this glance as he would have liked to. Aha, it did nip into him, but replays suggest it was more or less seam-up.

He's finally getting the edges he kept missing in the first innings. Uncertainty from Marsh in the corridor. Shapes for the big, on-the-up punch, but then decides to check himself, and in the end he ends up pushing halfheartedly at this away-seamer. Pant is gobbling them up at some rate now; he picks up his third catch of the innings.

Australia are 28 for 4. They lead by 213 with a possible 64.1 overs remaining in the day, weather permitting.

Those two great friends of India, Travis Head and Steven Smith, are together in the middle again.

He comes on as first change to bowl the eighth over of the innings, and beats the inside edge first ball with a big in-ducker to Nathan McSweeney. It's another false shot without a wicket.

It took Akash 53 false shots to get his only wicket in the first innings. Now he gets one with his third ball, as McSweeney flashes at a wide-ish one outside off and edges to Pant off the bottom edge.

Clear signs of movement and uneven bounce with quite a few cracks having opened up on the surface. Australia are 16 for 3.

Now Travis Head walks in ahead of Steven Smith.

Australia are two down. You could call it a loose shot from Marnus Labuschagne, but it's the kind of shot Australia want to be playing if they're still looking to force a win here. Extra bounce outside off stump, and he can't quite get on top of the front-foot cut. Thick edge, and Rishabh Pant takes it with gloves above his head.

It's Bumrah's 52nd Test wicket in Australia. He's moved past Kapil Dev to become India's leading wicket-taker in the country.

Australia are clearly looking for quick runs, because Mitchell Marsh is in at No. 4.

Fourth time in the series, and with his first ball to the left-hand opener today. Just a beautiful length, angling the ball in from round the wicket and making Khawaja drive with bat well in front of his body. Nips back, zips past the inside edge, brushes his back pad, and crashes into the top of his stumps. Not the greatest gift for Khawaja on his 37th birthday.

Australia are 11 for 1.

The lunch break is on now.

It is notable that Mitchell Marsh bowled just two overs in that innings for Australia, although the team insists there are no fitness issues around him.

There was a practical reason why perhaps he wasn’t needed much with the regular rain breaks allowing Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins to stay reasonably fresh and the ability of Nathan Lyon to lock in from one end.

"He's good to go, there are no issues around his fitness," Daniel Vettori, Australia’s assistant coach, said last night. "It was just the way the weather delays came that allowed Patty and Mitch to keep going.

"He'll be incredibly important part of the next two Tests, particularly Melbourne, I think that is a wicket that suits him. And to be able to complement whoever comes into that team, that is when he is at his best."

Australia have had uncapped allrounder Beau Webster with the squad for the last two Tests should they want to make a change to that No. 6 position but that appears unlikely unless Marsh has a problem leading into Melbourne. Away from his bowling, it has not been an especially productive series with the bat for Marsh, either, barring his 47 in the second innings at Perth. However, he has caught very well at the Gabba.

At long last, Australia have bowled India out and taken a first-innings lead of 185. Travis Head comes on for what felt like one over before the second new ball, and ends up capping the tenth-wicket partnership at 47.

Nice delivery, angling across Akash Deep from round the wicket, bringing him forward to defend, gets a bit of away drift and not a lot of turn in, and beats the outside edge. Akash has dragged his back foot out of the crease, and Carey completes the stumping.

With only 196 overs bowled in the Test, this would be day three without all the weather we've had. It's day five, though, with more weather expected, and at best Australia have almost three full sessions to somehow force a win. How will they approach this? We will see very soon.

Well, maybe not that soon. There's lightning in the neighbourhood of the Gabba, and we'll have to wait a bit before Australia begin their innings.

Hello again. It's dry at the moment at the Gabba, and day five is set to start on time. Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah have ensured that Australia will have to bat again, but they'll want to make them wait for it, and put more overs into their depleted attack's legs before it can happen. They've already batted for 8.5 overs, and they'll want to keep going for a little while longer and make the draw an even likelier prospect than it currently is.

Australia have one route to victory, which will be complicated both by likely weather interruptions and the fact that they don't have one of their three main quicks: get this last wicket quickly, go hard at India's bowlers for 20-odd overs, and then declare to give themselves two sessions to take 10 wickets.

Only if Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep allow them to, of course.

Incredible scenes at the Gabba as Akash slashes Cummins beyond the reach of the leaping gully fielder and moves India past the 246 mark. And he follows up two balls later with an incredible, front-leg-cleared slog that clears the wide long-on boundary. Around half an hour before this, Jasprit Bumrah hooked Cummins for six too.

This has been a terrific display from India's last-wicket pair. The players go off for bad light now, with India 252 for 9, with Bumrah and Akash having put on an unbroken 39 for the last wicket. Bumrah was part of a landmark 10th-wicket stand with Mohammed Shami at Lord's in 2021, and this one has been just as rousing for India's fans.

Instructive to look at control percentages here: 86 for Bumrah and 90 for Akash Deep. They're Nos. 10 and 11. They should both have been batting above Mohammed Siraj, probably, but in any case, it's a reflection of the fact that they've batted against an old ball and tiring bowlers, with Josh Hazlewood absent.

And play has been called off for the day. What a day of Test cricket we've had. Cummins and Starc have bowled 44.5 of India's 74.5 overs - that's two-fifths of Australia's attack taking on 60% of their workload, thanks largely to Josh Hazlewood's calf strain. It's likely, we now know, that he will miss the remainder of this Border-Gavaskar series. Nathan Lyon has bowled 21, meanwhile, which is a further 28% of the workload. Australia have essentially been reduced to a three-man attack.

That, in the end, could influence how they go about day five. They would love to have a go at India's bowlers for a quick hour and a half in the morning, declare, and come back and try to take 10 wickets. Now, though, they will worry about the workloads of these three bowlers with two Test matches left after this one.

For India, avoiding the follow-on is massive. If they can get out of Brisbane with the scoreline still 1-1, they will feel they definitely have it in them to push for a series win. Will they be able to hold on for a draw here? Join us tomorrow to find out.

What a moment this is. It's that man Cummins again. Jadeja had farmed the strike and added 12 with Jasprit Bumrah, hitting Lyon for a straight six and edging Cummins over the cordon for a lucky four along the way. With the last two balls of the over remaining, Cummins brings in his fielders in front of square, but leaves the square ones on the boundary. The field is set for the short ball, and he bowls two. Jadeja attacks both. He misses the uppercut, but connects with the pull, except it isn't the best connection, and Marsh takes his third catch of the innings, running in from deep square leg and diving forward to take it low to the ground.

Jadeja goes for an excellent 77, and India are 213 for 9, 32 away from the magic number.

Mitchell Starc strikes almost immediately after play resumes, gets Siraj nicking off with a full one that straightens after angling in from round the wicket. India are 201 for 8, 45 away from avoiding the follow-on.

Mitchell Starc isn't pleased, and performs a spectacular eyeroll, but he can't do anything about it. The rain - not heavy rain just yet - comes down with India 201 for 7, 45 runs away from the magic number.

Sunriser gets Sunriser, and Australia get their seventh wicket with India still 51 runs away from the follow-on mark. Either inward movement or slightly low bounce or both from just short of a length. Reddy looks to stand tall and punch into the covers, and ends up inside-edging into his stumps.

Interestingly, Mohammed Siraj is in at No. 9, ahead of both Akash Deep - who's shown he can hit a long ball - and Jasprit Bumrah.

Meanwhile, here's an observation from Sampath Bandarupalli:

Sixth instance of Ravindra Jadeja facing 100-plus balls in a Test innings since the start of 2023. Among Indians, only Shubman Gill (7) has done it more often than Jadeja in this period, while Yashavi Jaiswal has also done it six times.

Jadeja has not been in control of only three of the 101 balls he has faced so far. His control percentage in this innings is currently his highest when he has made a 50-plus score in Tests. His previous highest was 96% when he scored 60* off 76 balls against Bangladesh in Indore in 2019.

They've brought up their half-century partnership, and neither of them has looked in any trouble. More great signs from Reddy with the bat too. Until now, he's largely batted in situations where he's needed to counterattack, mostly in the company of the lower order. Here he's had to simply bat, and show that he has defensive skills to go with all the sumptuous shots, and so far he's done it admirably, as a control percentage in the 90s would indicate. It's also a consequence of his having come in against the old ball and Australia's depleted attack, but he can only bat in the situations he's asked to bat in.

But as useful as this partnership has been, there's a broader question India will no doubt ponder in the lead-up to the next Test match at the MCG. Jadeja (outside Asia) and Reddy are batting allrounders, and playing them at Nos. 7 and 8 means India effectively have only three strike bowlers. It certainly hurt them during Australia's innings here, particularly - as we learned from Jasprit Bumrah's press conference last evening - with one of their strike bowlers, Mohammed Siraj, having to bowl a lot of overs with a niggle. Jadeja and Reddy are playing a crucial role in India making a solid effort at getting to the follow-on mark, but perhaps the follow-on mark, and Australia's total, may have been significantly smaller had India been able to call on an attack with more depth.

It won't be an easy issue for India to resolve at the MCG. The pitches they've played on so far have all called for a 4-1 seam-to-spin balance, and if that remains the case in Melbourne, they'll either have to persist with Reddy or pick four genuine quicks plus Jadeja. That will leave them with a long tail, but it's a trade-off they'll have to consider. Things will become a lot easier, of course, if the pitch at the MCG allows them to play two spinners. They did that at both the MCG and SCG on the 2020-21 tour.

Gets there in the first over after resumption. Starts off with a lovely on-drive first up, and is then gifted four runs for what should have been leg byes off the thigh psd. That takes him to 49, and he picks up a single to mid-on to bring up the landmark. Out comes the signature bat-whirling celebration.

Terrific innings, and his wagon wheel against pace gives you a broad idea of why his methods have worked so well in Australia (where he currently averages 54.00). A lot of runs down the ground and square of the wicket, barely anything through the covers. Basically he's looked to either play with a vertical or horizontal bat, or simply pick up runs off his legs. He's avoided the diagonal bat, and been happy to leave a lot of balls outside off stump and forego runs through the covers.

He's also looked excellent against Nathan Lyon today, and used the sweep - a shot he isn't really known for - frequently and to telling effect.

And 2.5 overs after the restart, the rain returns.

This photograph shows Smith about to take off, but it doesn't tell you how far his feet have already moved in anticipation.

It's raining, by the way, so we wait longer than expected for the second session to begin.

I guess India would have taken 116 for 2 if you'd given them those session numbers at the start of the day. Particularly if you'd also told them Australia would be one fast bowler short. For all that, though, India are still 79 runs short of the follow-on mark, and have plenty of work to do after lunch to get there.

Ravindra Jadeja is batting on 47, with a control percentage of 97, and with him is Nitish Kumar Reddy.

He dropped a sitter first ball of the day and let Rahul off. Now he reminds everyone why he's one of the great slip fielders. Rahul rocks back to cut Nathan Lyon, and Smith, at slip, is moving his feet at the same time, stepping to his right in anticipation of an edge. The bounce of this pitch produces the edge, and it's a thick one, and it's flying to Smith's right, but he's already cut out some of the distance he has to cover, and his weight is already moving in that direction. Out comes the dive, out comes the one-handed grab, and Rahul departs for 84. India are 141 for 6, 105 runs away from the follow-on mark.

He's currently batting on 22, with a control percentage of 96. Part of the reason for this, of course, is that he's come in against the older ball, when Australia have had to regroup around the non-availability of a key fast bowler, and that he's faced 26 balls from Nathan Lyon out of 50 overall.

But he's also shown all the virtues that make him so valuable with the bat. He knows his game inside-out, leaves very well outside off, likes to show the full face and pick up runs with checked drives down the ground, and his one major weakness against spin on Indian pitches - his way of defending with bat and pad next to each other, with his pad bang in line with the stumps - is much less of a weakness on bouncy surfaces where lbw isn't so much of a factor.

At this moment, he's scored 197 runs in six innings in Australia, at an average of 49.25.

Josh Hazlewood, who went off the field after bowling one over today, could miss the rest of this Test match with a sore calf.

“Josh Hazlewood reported calf awareness in this morning’s warm-up,” a CA spokesperson said. “He will be taken for scans to assess the injury.”

As funny as calf awareness sounds, this could be a massive blow for Australia as they push to take the remaining 15 India wickets while racing against time and the weather. Here's a full report on the situation, from Andrew McGlashan.

Rain makes its presence felt 3.5 overs after the first drinks break of the day, with India 105 for 5. Let's get our correspondents' thoughts in, while we wait this out.

Making the most of the new ball - and it really is a new ball, with an extra layer of lacquer keeping it harder for longer, and the seam slightly more raised - has been a big focus in this series.

KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Steven Smith have all highlighted how batting is at its hardest until around the 30-35 overs. So lets focus in on that period. India aced it in the second innings in Perth. But they were six down in the first innings in Adelaide, bowled out in the 37th over in the second innings and now five down in the first innings in Brisbane.

Australia, after the aberration in Perth, were three down in the first innings in Adelaide and three down again here in Brisbane after 35 overs. Both times they went on to make big totals. Their game plan is to absorb the pressure in the early overs; Smith made a point to praise each of his top three for playing 50-plus balls because that then set up Travis Head to do his thing. This has been Australia's plan, to get through the toughest period of play so that their game-changer can get in when the movement has died down a bit but the ball is still hard enough to whack around.

India just haven't been able to set themselves up like that.

Pat Cummins has been particularly expressive in his celebrations in the last two Tests. Not that he’s usually unemotional on claiming wickets, but it’s felt there’s been an extra edge since the Perth Test – although Cummins played down the suggested there was more feeling in it when asked in Adelaide.

He was certainly pumped up after removing Rohit Sharma, the second time he had claimed his opposite number in consecutive innings after the pearler he produced in the second innings in Adelaide which rivalled his famous delivery to Joe Root in the 2019 Ashes. It has been another immaculate spell from the Australia captain, who has a tremendous record at the Gabba where his wickets come at under 19 apiece.

It also feels that the fortunes of the two captains are diverging. Rohit wears the expression – both in the field and with the bat – of a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Cummins, meanwhile, kept his calm after the dramatic events at Perth and let others lose their cool before the side regrouped in Adelaide. Whether they have enough time for a win here remains in the lap of the weather, but they have given themselves a good chance.

A potentially worrying situation for Australia. Josh Hazlewood comes into the attack, bowls one over, and leaves the field. He came back into Australia's XI for this game, remember, after missing the Adelaide Test with a side strain.

Since then, India have faced Nathan Lyon from one end and Mitchell Marsh from the other. Australia can ill-afford losing one of their three main quicks for an extended period.

He's had one big slice of luck, but you probably need that to score a half-century in these conditions, against these bowlers. He's got into good positions ball after ball and made good choices, and picked the right balls to attack, using the checked square and cover drives profitably when it's been pitched up. A checked drive for three, appropriately, brings up the milestone, one ball after he'd slashed a rising ball over the cordon - that was a bit of an edge, but it was half-deliberate because he went hard, which is always an option on bouncy pitches.

Incredible spell from Pat Cummins to start the day, and he finally gets his reward too. It's incredible because he was hitting a handkerchief on the shorter side of a length to Rahul, and he shifts his length fuller to find Rohit Sharma's edge.

There's a short ball zipping past the ribcage first, and Rohit misses the pull. Then comes the full one outside off, full but not full enough to drive. Two deliveries asking the batter two very different questions, and asking him to align himself in two very different ways. Rohit doesn't get enough of a stride forward to this full one, and his shoulders are a touch too open as well, and he drives a long way in front of his body and nicks off to Alex Carey. India are 74 for 5.

Wow. What a moment. Pat Cummins all but strikes with the first ball of the day, only for KL Rahul to get a massive slice of luck. It's a typical Cummins delivery, hits the deck in the corridor and gets it to rear. It induces the kind of away-from-the-body jab that looks terrible in hindsight but is a product of the body simply reacting to the ball's unexpected behaviour. It's incredibly difficult, even for the best batters, to not follow the ball with their hands when it bounces like that.

Anyway, Rahul gets a thick edge that goes straight into Steven Smith's lap at second slip, only for one of the great slip fielders of this era to put down a sitter.

Hello, hello. It's a clear morning at the Gabba, for now, with play set to begin on time with Australia right on top. The magic number that will probably determine the shape of the rest of this Test match is 246, India's follow-on target. If they get there, they force Australia to bat again, and use up precious time and overs extending their lead to something they believe is safe before they can bowl again. There is a little bit of batting left in India's tank too, with Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy to follow. If they can somehow get past that 30-over mark, when the seam movement tends to become a lot less threatening, without further damage, they could certainly get to that magic number.

There's still a while to go for that, though, and KL Rahul, who's batted beautifully so far, and Rohit Sharma, who's still not off the mark, have quite a job to do. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins have so far got a lot more out of this track as a collective than India's quicks did, with their height and ability to hit the deck coming to the fore, and it's likely they'll continue to do so for a while yet.

And that is that. Only 33.1 overs were possible on what may have been the stop-startiest day in the history of Test cricket, featuring as many as eight stoppages for rain, but Australia's fast bowlers ensured their hopes of going 2-1 up remained alive with two days remaining. Australia stretched their first-innings total to 445 in the morning, before Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins ripped out India's top order.

India end day three four down for 51, 394 runs adrift of Australia's total, and their first target will be to get to 246 to avoid the follow-on. If they get there, they dramatically improve their chances of getting to Melbourne with the series still level. Rain is expected on days four and five as well, so Australia may be battling against time if they're forced to bat again.

We'll have the full report up very soon, and a lot of other text and video content as well, looking back on this day of frustratingly little cricket. Join us tomorrow for another early start, and hopefully uninterrupted action thereon.

The players come back out on the field with a minimum of 13.5 overs possible, but we only manage 2.5 overs before the rain comes back. First Starc completes the over he began before the last stoppage, and then the light level dips, so Australia can't bowl their quicks. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma then face the twin-offspin attack of Nathan Lyon and Travis Head, both predominantly bowling from round the wicket, for two overs. There's a bit of turn and quite a bit of bounce in evidence, so it's by no means straightforward.

But all that is shortlived as the rain returns, and the players go back off the field. The rain seems to have stopped from what I can see on TV, but I think the players stay off because it's become even more murky out in the middle. Will there be any more play today? With the light being what it is, I doubt it, but we'll see.

Five balls into the restart, and the first ball Pant faces in around half an hour, and it's a beauty from Pat Cummins. Over the wicket to the left-hander, angling across the stumps, finishing around fourth stump, the length bringing him onto the front foot. The threat of the ball straightening means Pant is forced to play at it, and he ends up feathering it through to Carey.

India are 44 for 4.

And two balls after that, the rain returns. Right after Rahul moves to 30 with the most silken cover drive off Starc.

What a frustrating day this has been. The one positive for Australia, though, is that their three fast bowlers can stay fresh and keep coming back to bowl. India are 39 for 3.

Eleven balls of action after play resumed post-lunch, and we go off again. Sigh.

It's that familiar mode of dismissal for Virat Kohli. Josh Hazlewood hangs a fullish one fairly wide of off stump, and invites the cover drive. Kohli goes after it, playing a long way from his body. It's extremely risky to do that on this pitch unless it's pitched right up, and this one isn't. I don't know if this one seamed, but just the bounce in this surface is enough to bring the outside edge into play when the bat is diagonal like that.

And the rain returns as soon as this happens, with India 22 for 3.

A dire situation for India. Two wickets have come from loose drives, and the other from an airy flick.

If there are any mitigating circumstances, it's that Starc and Hazlewood have got the ball to do all kinds of unpredictable things from good and shorter lengths. There was that blow to Rahul's wrist earlier, and in the over before Kohli's dismissal, Starc got one to rear at his head from just short of a length. When all that is happening, batters do tend to go after balls they otherwise may not chase.

It’s not a new story, but the changes made to the Kookaburra ball a few years ago in Australia have come back to the fore recently amid the talk of how batting has got tougher here.

So what did they change about the ball? Well, around 2019, Cricket Australia asked Kookaburra to come up with a ball that would prove more durable on surfaces in the country and retain its hardness. The outcome was an extra layer of lacquer and a lining under the surface that means the seam stands prouder for longer.

The hardness factor was something referenced yesterday by Steven Smith around the importance job of seeing off the first 30-40 overs to allow the middle order to take advantage.

"If you get through that period, you've got guys like Travis [Head] and [Mitchell] Marsh and Alex [Carey] coming in," Smith said. "The ball still bounces off the bat a lot harder than it used to. "Previously you get to those positions when the ball gets a bit softer, you'd see catches in front of the wicket and it would be a bit more difficult to score."

The overall batting averages in Australia have certainly declined: in the last five seasons only once (in 2022-23) has the collective average been over 30. In the eight seasons before that it hadn’t been below 30.

"The scores have come down. Bowling averages have come down. Batting averages have come down," Smith said. "Five years ago, you saw 400 or 500 being scored consistently in the first innings. If you put a three in front of it these days, you're usually in a pretty good position.

"So you've got to think about that as well when you're thinking about play. Sometimes if you don't get a hundred, it's not the end of the world. A good 60 or a good 30 at times can be really crucial and match-winning for a team."

"The wickets got greener as well," Smith added. "It's kind of like a perfect storm coming together. The first 35 overs of the innings is very challenging at the moment, with the significant seam movement. The last three years has been probably been the hardest that I've experienced in my career in terms of the amount of movement that's been generated."

Two wickets, same scorecard description.

And this is an incredible catch at gully, diving to his left at full stretch to grab the rising ball with both hands. It was coming at pace as well. Cam Green, whose place Marsh has taken at gully, would have been proud of that effort, though he may not have had to cover quite as much distance.

Not the best shot from Shubman Gill, doesn't get his weight moving forward into the drive as he goes after the tempter from Starc, slanted full and wide outside off stump. He's leaning back, and ends up slicing the ball well behind square.

Josh Hazlewood has bowled one ball in this Test match, and he's already shown how difficult it could be for India to negotiate Australia's pace attack on this pitch. A good-length ball that KL Rahul goes on the front foot to defend, and it rears up and smacks him on the left wrist.

Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins are all 6'5" or taller. India's fast bowlers are nowhere near as tall. Having tall fast bowlers is a distinct advantage on surfaces where up-and-down bounce can come into play.

A two-ball dismissal this time, and it's probably not how Starc planned to get his man. Jaiswal walks off filthy with himself, having flicked a leg-stump half-volley in the air and straight to the man at square leg, stationed just in front of square.

Goes short and across Carey, and he can't quite clear Shubman Gill at deep midwicket with his pull. Carey falls for 70, and Australia end at 445.

That wicket ball was the 53rd false shot Akash had induced. It's always been a bone of contention whether a shot off the middle of the bat that ends up as a catch should count as in control or not in control, but not in control sounds about right if you've hit it down the throat of a fielder. Either way, it's a nicely ironic way for Akash to finally get his first wicket.

Most not-in-control shots induced by a bowler in a Test innings for 1 or 0 wickets since 2014:
57 - Graeme Cremer vs WI, Bulawayo, 2017 (1 wicket in 2nd inns)
56 - Mohammed Shami vs ENG, The Oval, 2018 (0 wickets in 1st inns)
53 - Akash Deep vs AUS, Brisbane, 2024 (1 wicket in 1st inns)
50 - R Ashwin vs ENG, Chennai, 2016 (1 wicket in 1st inns)
50 - Mitchell Swepson vs PAK, Karachi, 2022 (0 wickets in 4th inns)

Anyway, it's another tiny rain interruption, and India's innings is all set to begin. KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal will continue to open. There was some debate leading into this Test match over whether Rohit Sharma should return to the top of the order.

Australia are nine down, as Siraj goes full and straight, gets a bit of inward nip, and bowls Lyon as he looks to launch one over mid-on or thereabouts. Australia are 445 for 9.

This was Siraj's first over of the morning. He replaced Jadeja, who had bowled a seven-over spell.

Alex Carey has a slash at the first ball of the 114th over of Australia's innings, and fails to put bat on ball. It's a landmark play and miss, because it's the 51st false shot Australia have played against Akash Deep in this innings. Fifty-one. And he doesn't have even one wicket to show for it.

Why is 51 a landmark? Well, because Jasprit Bumrah has induced 50 false shots and taken six wickets.

Only a brief interruption, mercifully. Something like 14 minutes, so 19 in all lost since the scheduled start of play.

Australia have some thinking to do now. The rain is back with the scoreboard reading 435 for 8. India will be delighted to get off the field.

Akash Deep replaced Bumrah right after he dismissed Starc, and it wasn't a change of ends, because Jadeja has continued from the other end, from where he's now completed his fifth over of the morning. Just the three overs for Bumrah.

It's not a move that smacks of aggressive intent, but Bumrah has bowled 28 overs, more than any other India bowler here, and sometimes, this is what workload management looks like in the middle of a five-Test series. It's purely pragmatic, and perhaps India even feel it's in their interests for Australia's innings to continue for as long as possible, given all the weather around.

And all six of his wickets have come from corridor balls edged to the keeper or the slips cordon. Now it's Starc, who had used his long levers to pick up heaved leg-side boundaries off both Jadeja and Bumrah. This one's fullish, straightens a little bit outside off, and Starc, not the biggest mover of feet in the world, has a poke at it and nicks to Rishabh Pant.

Oh, and it's Bumrah's 50th Test wicket in Australia. Kapil Dev (51) is the only other India bowler to have got to this milestone. Anil Kumble took 49.

It's only taken him 53 balls to get there. Crucial innings, this. Ensured Australia pushed past 400 after Bumrah's three-wicket burst had turned 316 for 3 to 327 for 6. Played some terrific shots yesterday evening, and he gets to his half-century with another, a neatly-placed sweep to the backward square leg boundary off Ravindra Jadeja.

Interesting that Jadeja's first ball today turned and bounced sharply to beat an attempted reverse-sweep from Carey. It turned from what would be an off-stumpish or just outside off-stumpish line for Nathan Lyon if he were bowling to a right-hand batter.

A bit of speculation on TV commentary on why India have started with Jadeja from one end, and one possible reason put forward is that it could be to keep the over rate under control. Could be. It's certainly an interesting move, given the conditions and how well Akash Deep in particular bowled yesterday, and given the fact that Australia have two LHBs at the crease in Carey and Starc.

Well, that was a pretty brief shower, and the outfield here is one of the quickest-draining in the world. Only a five-minute delay, in effect. Australia are batting on, and, like I said earlier, they'll want to get as close as possible to something like a bat-once total. What might that be? 500? That would mean India would need to score 300 (301, technically) to avoid the follow-on. Anyway, a lot of cricket still to be played, and India will believe they have batters in their ranks capable of scoring hundreds here like Head and Smith have done.

As you've probably heard by now, it's raining at the Gabba. Australia will be itching to get on the field as soon as possible, and under ideal circumstances will have probably looked to bat on and extend their first innings into a bat-once sort of total and try and then put a lot of pressure on India with the follow-on threat magnified. Let's see how things go now. One way to look at it is that the rain may, counterintuitively, make Australia likelier to keep batting, and try and ensure they don't have to bat again? But that might depend on how much time we lose. Anyway, let's hope the rain goes away soon.

What a day this has been. No rain, and 377 runs and seven wickets over 87.4 overs. Five of the wickets came courtesy that man Jasprit Bumrah, and 263 of the runs courtesy those two great India tormentors, Travis Head and Steven Smith, 241 of them in a fourth-wicket stand that rattled along at just under five an over.

India's three-pronged pace attack put Australia under pressure at various points today, and Akash Deep was extremely unlucky to end up with no wickets, despite inducing 45 false shots to Bumrah's 46. But the depth of India's overall bowling was found wanting today, as Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja, their fourth and fifth bowlers, gave away 141 runs over a combined 29 overs, while picking up one wicket.

The big stories of the day, however, were Head and Smith. India continued to have no answer to the basic question Head has posed them since day one: how do you bowl to someone whose stock response to the top-of-off line and length is a fast-hands square cut? They tried various things, but they weren't able to sustain a threat for any length of time against a batter of his quality in the form he's in. And Smith started so, so scratchily, playing and missing repeatedly, but he came in with a method, returning to the big shuffle across the stumps after abandoning it following his first-innings duck in Perth, and he stuck to it, and eventually found the fluency to reach his 33rd Test hundred and tenth against India.

Bumrah then came back and picked up three wickets in 12 balls with the second new ball, but by then Australia seemed to be well in front. By the end of the day, they'd gone past the 400 mark, and you'd think that their bowlers should get significantly more out of this pitch than India's have managed, given both home advantage and height advantage.

Only three days to go, though, so time could become a factor as this Test match goes along. And the weather could be another factor over days three, four and five, so Australia may have some calculations to make. Either way, they're in a great position, and whatever happens next should make for fascinating viewing. Do join us nice and early tomorrow (it's another early start, remember), and we'll enjoy the ride together.

Siraj gets his first wicket with a little bit of seam movement and bounce in the corridor. Pat Cummins pushes at it without a lot of footwork, and edges behind for 20. Australia are 385 for 7.

Alex Carey is playing a lovely little innings here. He's already moved to 33 off 30 balls, with four fours including two in this last over from Mohammed Siraj. The second is a crisp but routine back-cut, but the first is truly astonishing; he steps out, Siraj bowls a bouncer that gets up above shoulder height, outside off stump, and he flat-bats it over mid-on.

Australia are 377 for 6.

Wow. He's nipped out three wickets in 12 balls after that big fourth-wicket partnership, and Australia are now 327 for 6. Again and again he's hit that length that brings the batter forward without being full enough to drive. Again and again he's hit that length in the close corridor outside off. And again and again he's found just enough movement to find the edge. After Smith and Marsh, he now gets the big one, Head. Round the wicket to the left-hander, angling it into the channel, straightening it off the deck, and Head throws his hands at it and nicks off. What a champion bowler he is. Twelfth five-wicket haul, in just his 43rd Test.

Head goes for a magnificent 160-ball 152, yet another innings where he's come in with the match in the balance and snatched it away from his opponents with glorious, unfettered strokeplay.

He has four now, and Australia are 326 for 5. Terrific delivery in the fourth-stump channel, on the fuller side of a length, straightening off the deck. Mitchell Marsh defends with firm hands, and the thick edge flies quickly into Virat Kohli's midriff at second slip. He takes his third catch of the innings.

Funnily enough, the wicket comes after another frustrating over from Akash Deep, who has bowled very well in this innings with nothing to show for it. He's induced 35 false shots, and in that over he created two not-quite chances. Marsh first drove him straight and uppishly, just a touch too high for it to be a return-catch chance. Then he top-edged a pull that fell just short of Shubman Gill, who may have been a touch late to run in off the boundary at long leg.

Australia are four down, and Jasprit Bumrah has his third wicket. The Smith-Head stand comes to an end after putting on 241 in 302 balls.

Rare, expansive drive outside off from Smith, and the ball was almost full enough to merit that shot, but the almost is key. Moves away off the deck, and the ball flies off the edge to the right of first slip, where Rohit dives and takes a superb catch. May have been a little more difficult than the one he dropped off Head earlier in the session, off Reddy, because this one was travelling a lot quicker.

Smith brings up his century, his 33rd in Tests and his 10th against India, and it’s been the classic innings of two halves. His wagon wheel has literally flowered since he reached his fifty, because he's been unfurling all the off-side strokes that he'd barely been able to play through the early part of the innings. Some of this is down to the bowling, of course, because he's faced a lot of Reddy and Jadeja in this time, but he's earned that with all the hard work he'd had to do before that.

It’took Smith 128 balls to score his first fifty runs. The second fifty has taken just 57. There were 30 false shots in his first half-century, and there have only been seven since.

He's played some exceedingly pretty drives since tea, none better perhaps than the on-drive off Siraj to go from 95 to 99. The century comes up in typical fashion, a tuck off the hip for a single through backward square leg.

But not after Head and Smith have taken full toll of the old one. In ten overs since tea, of which seven were bowled by Reddy and Jadeja, they've scored 63 runs. Australia are 297 for 3 in 80 overs.

A difficult one, but a chance nonetheless.

The post-tea session begins with a 70-over-old ball, and that presents India with a dilemma, because the new ball is due at the 80-over mark. Do they begin with their best bowlers, or do they save them up for the new ball? They opt for the latter option, which means it's Ravindra Jadeja from one end and Nitish Kumar Reddy from the other.

And Reddy creates a chance right away, producing the leading edge while going over the wicket to Head. Tries to work one through the leg side, and closes his bat face early. The ball pops to the left of Rohit Sharma who's at a wide slip, and he goes horizontal and gets both hands to the low chance, but he can't hold on.

Clips Jasprit Bumrah for three through the leg side, and brings up a 115-ball century. This Test match was on an absolute knife's edge not that long ago. Then Travis Head happened to it. He's just walked in and played his shots like the ball isn't still seaming around and isn't still trampolining off this pitch ever so often. India have tried various things against him, including going short, but they've discovered that every plan against this man comes with the smallest possible margin for error.

Update: The tea break arrives with Australia 234 for 3 in 70 overs. They have scored 130 runs in this wicketless second session, at 4.8 per over.

"Bowling to Travis Head is such a trip. He weathered an lbw appeal, coming second-best to a ball that was on a good length, flirting with the full length, and it turned from there. Ravindra Jadeja thought he had his man. He bowled the next two balls up to the batter and Head smashed him for fours. Since then Jadeja's been pulling his length back and really firing the ball into the wicket, and Head has been playing him off the back foot, quite serenely. Essentially, Head has thrown Jadeja off the length he would want to bowl and made life easier for himself seconds after being in trouble.

"India's fast bowlers are having a similar experience as well. Everybody says go short at Head, get it up into his armpit. India haven't been able to get it there consistently and that's allowed Head to get under the ball and play the upper cut. Plus, with two men on the leg side boundary now, he's expecting the bouncer. Essentially, Head is scoring runs off the balls India thought they could get him out and that's putting them under so much pressure."

"There will be flashbacks for India. Not just to last week in Adelaide when Travis Head made a century, but the World Test Championship final at The Oval last year. On that occasion, Head and Steven Smith came together on the opening day with Australia 76 for 3 (today it was 75 for 3). Head was then the aggressor, just as today, while Smith rode in his slipstream to form a stand of 285 in 67 overs that defined the final and gave India no way back. On that occasion, both players went onto centuries. India will be desperate to reach the second new ball without losing control of the scoring rate but ideally need to separate these two before then."

There have already been 30 false shots in Smith's innings, and he's just reached his half-century. There have been 11 other innings in Smith's Test career with 30 or more false shots, and all of them have been centuries.

It tells you how much of a struggle he's had to endure in this innings, and how unwavering he has been with his method. India's lines and his own set-up at the crease have combined to cut off most of his off-side scoring areas, but he's just battled away, gathered whatever runs he's been able to gather, and enjoyed every moment of the struggle.

Another superb innings from Travis Head. India have made every other Australia batter scrape and scrounge for every run, and he's raced to a 71-ball half-century. It's his third 50-plus score in a row. He's played some extraordinary shots as always, like that delayed ramp off Bumrah, but also so many square-cuts off the fast bowlers off balls that aren't just stump-line but stump-length as well. Most of these have only been singles, because India have had a deep backward point for him right through his innings, but it's incredible how he has the hand-eye coordination to keep playing that shot: just collapses his back knee to get down low, and lets his hands and wrists take over.

Three rousing deliveries in a row. Beats Smith in the corridor with late shape (it feels like really late swing rather than seam) twice in a row, back of a length and then slightly fuller. Then he bowls the same sort of shape, but a lot fuller and straighter, and Smith falls over while trying to flick and is hit on the pad. Big lbw appeal, not given. India review, because even though the initial angle is taking it down the leg side, there's a suspicion that it may have straightened enough to maybe hit leg stump. It has straightened, but not enough: ball-tracking shows it missing the top of leg.

Ominous and familiar signs for India as Travis Head quickly moves to 20 from 35 balls having survived some good deliveries bowled at him early on in his dig. He’s been a thorn in India’s side in the last year or so. Since the final of the previous WTC cycle in June 2023, he’s made 748 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 105.94 across formats, with key contributions in clutch games.

In this series, until lunch on Day 2 of the Brisbane Test, Head has scored 260 of the 735 runs Australia scored off the bat. The next highest is Marnus Labuschagne, with 81 runs from four innings. At the moment, Head’s contribution of 35.37% of his team’s tally is the highest for a batter in any series of three or more matches since Brian Lara made 688 of the 1540 runs scored by West Indies' batters on the 2001-02 tour of Sri Lanka. Including Lara’s effort, there have only been five other instances where a batter has had a higher contribution to team runs in a series of three or more matches.

Travis Head again lurks as a threat for India. Having avoided a fourth consecutive first-ball duck at the Gabba he has got himself set, although he was challenged by Akash Deep before lunch. Significantly he has come in after the 30-over mark with the ball a little softer. It feels there has been a bit of shift in mindset from Australia’s top order where it’s as much about the time they can soak up as the runs scored in conditions which have become tougher in recent years.

Batting averages are certainly down – both in international and domestic cricket in Australia – and while it shouldn’t always absolve batters of scrutiny, it has made the ability of Australia’s middle order to counterpunch a key part of their game.

“Probably the last three years in Australia, since the ball change [a extra layer of lacquer and a prouder seam], it’s been quite challenging for top-order batting,” Steven Smith said to Channel 7 before play. “Think you’ll see that in the numbers. Look back five years and you’ve got to put 450-500 on the board in the first innings to be in the game.

“Now if you put a three in front of it you are well on your way to winning the game. Things have certainly changed, it’s probably as trickier batting as I’ve seen in Australia in the last 14 years, for top-order batters in particular…[but] if you get to that 35-40 over mark this ball stays quite hard and guys like Travis Head and Mitch Marsh can come in and score really quickly.”

Encouraging sign for India that Siraj was back on the field as that session drew to a close. Absorbing extended session, bringing India three wickets for the cost of 76 runs in just under 30 overs. Jasprit Bumrah blew away the openers early doors, and they kept the scoring under check throughout with all four seamers doing their bit. It's still anyone's game, though, and no one will worry India more than the two batters in the middle as lunch is taken.

Steven Smith is batting on 25 off 68 balls, and he's batted resolutely and with a fair amount of fluency, barring two tight lbw appeals that he survived after Marnus Labuschagne's dismissal. Travis Head is already on 20 off 35. How long these two are together could determine the direction this Test match goes in.

Himanish, who also writes for us, worked with India as an analyst during Rahul Dravid's tenure as head coach, and contributed to their T20 World Cup victory earlier this year.

That bit about "vertical velocity" was fully on show in Akash's last over to Travis Head, the 41st of Australia's innings. Colloquially it's what you'd call bowling "into the pitch", and it helps you maximise any vagaries of bounce and seam movement on offer. Akash, angling the ball into the left-hander from round the wicket and getting the odd one to straighten, beat Head's flashing blade with steepling bounce on a couple of occasions in that over.

Uh oh. This could be a massive moment, potentially in this match, potentially in this series. Mohammed Siraj is into the seventh over of his spell, and two balls into the over, he's standing at the top of his mark when he calls the physio onto the field. A discussion ensues, and he trudges off, holding the back of his left leg, somewhere in the hamstring region.

Replays suggest that Siraj pulled up in his follow-through after bowling the second ball of that over.

Phew, what a moment. Australia's right-hand batters have played a game of fine margins against Mohammed Siraj, leaving him frequently on length, and you can do that on a surface with as much bounce as this one. But your judgment still has to be spot-on, and Siraj now produces a nip-backer that smacks Smith on the pad as he shoulders arms. Siraj's celebrappeal turns into a proper appeal, but Richard Kettleborough isn't interested. India review, and it comes back as umpire's call, with ball-tracking suggesting the ball would have clipped the outside edge of the top of off. Australia were 75 for 3 at that point, and Smith was batting on 18.

Big, big moment, this. Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne were beginning to look settled, even though India were keeping a lid on the scoring. Labuschagne was mostly facing Mohammed Siraj, and leaving ball after ball on length. Smith was mostly facing the fourth seamer, Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was looking distinctly like a change bowler - sometimes a touch too wide to trouble the batters, and often a touch slower than a true frontline quick.

But a rare moment of Reddy vs Labuschagne brings a wicket. It's a full, seemingly driveable ball outside off, and I don't know if it's the Gabba bounce or a cover drive not executed quite as well as it could have been. Yeah, replays suggest Labuschagne was leaning back a little, his head not quite on top of the ball. Thick edge, and Virat Kohli takes it with both hands at just above shoulder height, jumping to his right at second slip.

Australia are 75 for 3 in 33.2 overs.

Steven Smith has changed his trigger movement in almost every innings this series. He started with a big trigger across his stumps in the first innings in Perth, got lbw first ball to a Bumrah inducker, and gave it up in the second innings. He stuck with the minimal trigger in Adelaide. Now he's back to taking a big pre-delivery step across his stumps with his back foot, but his front foot doesn't seem to be following as far across as it did in that brief first innings in Perth.

He's bowled 30 balls this morning, so far. Australia's batters have been in control against 16 of them and not in control against the other 14. That's the definition of unplayable.

Sampath Bandarupalli gives us another scary-looking number: "Australia's openers are averaging 4.14 against Jasprit Bumrah in this series. Since 2002, only Ben Hilfenhaus (3.85 vs WI in 2012) and Axar Patel (3.85 vs ENG in 2021) have had lower averages against a team's openers in a Test series (Min: 5 innings)."

And here are Alagappan Muthu's observations from the Gabba:

"You don't often see Bumrah animated in a cricket match. It says two things - one, he's fully feeling it this morning, and two, he is desperate to break this Smith-Labuschagne partnership. At the end of his last over, he didn't appreciate Jaiswal throwing at the stumps when the single was nearly complete. At the start of this over, he demanded that Jadeja at point come closer to stop the single. He knows the rhythm he's in, it won't be easy for the batter to force him through the infield, he knows he can trap him at the crease if his field is just right. Just close enough to deny singles on defence. The rain has helped India in that they've had Bumrah bowling from one end all through this innings and he has figures of 11-6-12-2. Smith and Labuschagne will know Bumrah can't bowl all day today. If they see him off, the game changes. Big time."

Steven Smith is confident he is just out of runs not out of form as he looks to end a lean Test year with a significant score against India and close in on the 10,000-run landmark.

Smith is averaging just 23.20 in Tests during 2024, a year which has seen him briefly open the batting following the retirement of David Warner before returning to the middle order. He started the India series with a first-ball duck in Perth before looking compact for a second-innings 17 until he received a pearler from Mohammed Siraj. In Adelaide he was caught down the leg side.

“I spoke to Diva [Michael Di Venuto] after the last game, our batting coach, about the difference of being out of form and out of runs,” Smith told Channel 7 before the second day’s play at the Gabba. “At the moment I’m just out of runs. I actually feel I’m hitting the ball really nicely; copped a few good balls in the first couple of Test matches and got a bit unlucky in the last one down the leg side. But before that people were saying how well I was hitting the ball in the one-dayers and things like that, so I feel like I’m in a good place, just need some time in the middle, get out there and hopefully post a score.”

In terms of the hunt for a big score – his best this year is the unbeaten 91 he made at the Gabba against West Indies when he was an opener – Smith isn’t looking to change anything.

“[It’s about] trusting what I’ve done for a long period,” he said. “It’s worked for 14 years that I’ve been playing Test cricket and not buying too much into what people are saying and things like that. Trusting what I do and going out and performing.”

On the looming 10,000-run summit, Smith added: “I’ve never really been one for milestones as such, but if I get to that mark that’s a pretty illustrious sort of group of people who have got there.”

Nathan McSweeney has batted five times in Test cricket and been dismissed four times. Each of those dismissals has been at the hands of the same man. There have been few tougher initiations in the history of Test-match batting than what he's gone through at the hands of Jasprit Bumrah. He's now faced 52 balls from him, scored 12 runs, and been dismissed four times. Part of the reason he got through yesterday unscathed was that he only faced three balls out of Bumrah's six overs.

Anyway, he gets to face him for three balls in a row now, at the start of Bumrah's third over of the morning, and he creates a lovely angle into him from wide of the crease, forcing him to play at all three. This, remember, is a batter who's adept at leaving on length. He could have left this third one on length, because it's definitely short enough to bounce over the stumps, but the angle forces him to play, then it straightens and squares him up and grabs the outside edge to second slip. Outstanding bowling.

Was anyone brave enough to doubt him? He didn't quite get into his rhythm in his six overs yesterday, but Jasprit Bumrah has bowled seven balls this morning and nearly all of them have been on target. He's beaten Usman Khawaja's inside edge and produced one lbw appeal, and then drawn him forward and feeling for the fourth-stump ball three times in a row - twice at the end of his first over of the day, and once at the start of his second. Twice the ball beat his outside edge, and now he's just about grazed it through to Rishabh Pant, who completes his 150th dismissal in Test cricket (135 catches, 15 stumpings).

Hello again. We're all set for day two, and the Gabba is rain-free for the moment. There were two short spells of play yesterday, and India's bowlers weren't quite on target in the first one but came back bowling far better lengths and lines in the second, threatening the top of off a lot more often. They will hope they're on target right from the start today, and will make this still-new ball count and make Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney and the rest of Australia's top order really earn their right to survive and score runs. Either way, it's a relief that play is set to get underway as scheduled. Let's hope the day is packed with action and, if posssible, no weather interruptions at all.

Just 13.2 overs of cricket on a frustratingly wet first day at the Gabba, and there's rain forecast over the next four days too. Let's hope there isn't too much of it, and we get enough action to keep us all interested. Join us nice and early tomorrow, and put all your hearts and souls into your favourite rain-repelling rituals. Until then, goodbye!

Some reading material for you while you wait for the rain to abate, both looking back at Gabba 2021. First up, Nagraj Gollapudi puts together the recollections of some of the key members of India's party in that Test match, including Cheteshwar Pujara, Shardul Thakur and Rishabh Pant. I, meanwhile, chatted with the commentator Vivek Razdan on calling India's victory and his iconic line "Toota hai Gabba ka ghamand".

The future of this storied ground, Andrew McGlashan tells us, is uncertain:

The Gabba has played host to plenty of iconic Test moments: the 1960 tie, Ian Botham's last great Test innings, Shane Warne's career best, Peter Siddle's birthday hat-trick, India's famous 2021 heist and Shamar Joseph's heroics to pick out a few. But there may not be opportunity to add many more.

The future of the famous ground hangs in the air with just one more Test – next year’s Ashes encounter – guaranteed on the schedule. There will be a decision shortly over what happens to the Gabba as part of Brisbane’s Olympics plans and CA, in conjunction with Brisbane Lions AFL club, are pushing for a brand new stadium rather than a renovation of the ground with the current location not allowing any room for expansion.

In the last few days we’ve seen an example of some of the restrictions the Gabba has. When Josh Hazlewood wanted to bowl off his full run he had to go to Allan Border Field as the nets here weren’t large enough. “I am a little bit worried. I think in a few years time the Gabba might be dying a slow death sadly enough,” Usman Khawaja said ahead of the Test.

A move to a new multipurpose venue would have one significant impact – the loss of another traditional wicket in Australia with any new ground using a drop-in.

“We have drop in decks around the world,” Khawaja said. “The Gabba and the SCG are the few wickets which are not drop-ins. They are very distinct wickets. They are great. I am a little bit of a traditionalist. My heart’s at the Gabba."

It continues to hammer down at the Gabba, where we're now into the lunch break. Hard to say when we'll be able to get back on the field. A lot of puddles on the outfield already.

This could be one of those frustratingly stop-start days. A pity, especially because things were getting really interesting, with Akash Deep and Siraj beginning to get the ball to nip around. Some of it was off the deck, and some in the air too, which makes me wonder if India have happened to choose one of those new balls that begins to swing much more markedly around the 10-over mark, when some of the lacquer has worn off.

Australia are 28 for no loss in 13.2 overs.

Jasprit Bumrah has bowled five overs so far, but he's only got to bowl one ball to Nathan McSweeney. It can happen sometimes in Test cricket that a batter ends up occupying one end almost exclusively, and today it's preventing Bumrah from getting a shot at a batter he's dominated so far in this series. Up to this point, he's bowled 47 balls to McSweeney and dismissed him three times while conceding 11 runs.

Update: Bumrah goes out of the attack after six overs, out of which he bowls only three balls to McSweeney.

Alagappan Muthu is in Brisbane, and he's soaking it all in:

"Half the fun of coming to a cricket ground is to watch the cricket. The other half is to have a good time (and increasingly the balance might be shifting towards the latter). The stadium experiences in Australia are all pretty cool. Kids get to run around on the ground during the break and judging by how about eight of them went chasing after one single ball at Adelaide, they absolutely love it. A few of them are leaning over the railing now, right across from the India dugout, and miraculously they haven't been told off yet (or maybe they have because there's just one kid in a Virat shirt now). Fancy dress is big. Right underneath us at the press box, an entire stand has dressed up as storm troopers, with names like Starc Destroyer and General Green-vous on the back. The noise they make is different as well. It rises as one, so doesn't become garbled (you'll notice it when Siraj comes back to bowl again). There are handy little first-aid stations offering sunscreen and immediate help when needed. Clean seats. Ample restrooms. Ready access to food and water. Live cricket doesn't require sacrifice out here."

And off go the players, with Australia 19 for no loss in 5.3 overs.

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj have spent those 5.3 overs searching for the right lines and lengths to bowl on this pitch, and there hasn't seemed to be a great deal of seam movement on offer so far. The bounce seems nice and true as well, and Usman Khawaja has put away anything a touch too straight or a touch too short in moving to 13 off 22. Still early days, and viewers are now so habituated to the new ball doing all kinds of things all over the world that this pitch looks like a bit of a road, but I don't think that's quite the case.

Washington Sundar, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja. It was never going to be easy for India to pick one out of these three, and so it's proved so far.

From how the selection has transpired so far, I feel India's ideal choice might be Washington given his batting and his match-up against Australia's many left-hand batters, but I guess they may not yet be sure enough of his bowling in conditions where they think a spinner might need to bowl a lot of overs. Ashwin may have come in in Adelaide for that reason (and also because he bowled really well at that venue in 2018-19 and 2020-21), and he did a good job with the ball, particularly to keep some sort of control over Travis Head's scoring rate for a while, but India's worries with the batting line-up persist, and Jadeja offers a lot more solidity with the bat while bringing a lot of skill and far more experience with the ball than Washington, even if there's a notional disadvantage with the left-hand-batter match-up.

At first glance, this might feel like the right choice for the wrong Test; you could imagine Akash Deep's style of bowling really testing Australia in Adelaide with the pink ball, and Rana at his best getting the most out of the pace and bounce here at the Gabba, but "at his best", I guess, is the key phrase. He's still very inexperienced in first-class cricket, and he may not yet be ready to bowl spells of sustained accuracy and intensity over a series of this length. The raw material is very, very promising, though.

And the overheads could have been a factor in Akash getting the nod here. It's quite overcast at the moment.

The team winning the toss batted first in the first two Tests. India have won the toss here at the Gabba, and they're bowling first. "A little bit of grass, looks a little soft as well," Rohit Sharma says. "We want to try and make use of the conditions."

For what it's worth, the team bowling first has won six of the seven most recent Gabba Tests.

Pat Cummins says he would have done "one of those two" when asked if he'd have batted or bowled. Goes with his recent, reveal-nothing persona from social-media videos when he's said "bowler" and "batter" when asked to describe Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli in one word.

In their bid to make the best of these conditions, India have made two significant changes to their side. One is in their fast bowling, with the control of Akash Deep preferred over the hit-the-deck but slightly hit-or-miss Harshit Rana. Ravindra Jadeja, their go-to spinner overseas for so many years, makes his first appearance of the series, and his presence will shore up India's batting significantly.

Just the one change for Australia, and we've known what it was going to be, with Josh Hazlewood returning from injury and Scott Boland going back onto the bench.