India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl against Australia in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Gabba, Brisbane. This decision did not please former England captain Michael Vaughan as he said that Australia and Pat Cummins were more than happy to have lost the toss and asked to bat first.

Australia has a tremendous record in Brisbane but the fortress has been breached twice in recent years – first by India in 2021 and then by the West Indies earlier this year.

However, Australia have yet to lose a Test in Brisbane, having been asked to bat first since 1985.

“It was one of those decisions on the toss that I think Pat Cummins was absolutely glad he lost,” Vaughan told Fox Cricket.

“He didn’t have to make the call. He probably would have relaxed his batting given the history of the venue, but I think he was quite happy that Rohit Sharma said we will bowl first,” he added.

Former Australia left-arm pacer Brendon Julian also shared the same opinion as Vaughan and said it was a good defeat for Cummins.

“Good to lose,” Julian said.

“I think there was a lot of rain leading up to this Test and when the players came out for their training sessions before they went to watch it it was green. But out there this morning, I didn’t think it was a bowl-first pitch this morning,” he added.

Rain plays spoilsport in the first session on Day 1

Rain caused a setback in the first session on Day 1. The Indian bowlers failed to take advantage of the juice on the wicket as Australian opening batsmen Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney sawed off the new ball.

The first break came in the 6th over. However, the proceedings began after a half-hour break. The second interruption came in the 14th period when players from both sides hurriedly returned to the pavilion.

Mohammed Siraj was booed by the Gabba crowd as bad blood spilled over from Adelaide to Brisbane. For the Gabba Test, India made two changes to their playing XI as the visitors brought in Ravindra Jadeja and Akash Deep in place of Ravichandran Ashwin and Harshit Rana.

Australia also made a change as the hosts brought back Josh Hazlewood in place of Scott Boland. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is currently 1-1.