Only 13.2 overs were possible on a rainy first day in Brisbane, where India struggled unsuccessfully after opting to bowl first in the third Border-Gavaskar Test match.

Overcast conditions and a grass pitch prompted India to field Australia after winning their third consecutive toss and perhaps recent history has also influenced their decision as the team that bowls first has won six of the last seven Tests at the venue has. However, it took a while for India’s fast bowlers to find their length and the openers looked largely trouble-free for the first 5.3 overs before a drizzle sent the players off the field and Usman Khawaja hit anything even a touch too straight or came up short, putting away 13 out of 22 balls.

Play resumed after a half-hour break and the bowlers started asking more questions, shifting their lengths and finding more movement. Akash Deep, who came into the team in place of Harshit Rana, made a particularly impressive impression in the first change, swinging and pushing the ball to right-hander Nathan McSweeney and also causing the odd ball to climb awkwardly.

Apart from Akash Deep, India also roped in Ravindra Jadeja in place of R Ashwin for his first appearance in the series. This change meant they had played three different spinners in each of the first three Tests. For Australia, Josh Hazlewood returned after recovering from a side strain, replacing Scott Boland from the pace attack.