🏏Australia vs India, 3rd Test: Brisbane, 14 - 18 Dec 2024, Day 5 🏏 - Page 53

McSweeney and Khawaja ready to come out. Hang on. There's lightning near the Gabba. So play is going to be delayed. The umpires have ordered the players inside.

3rd test, Day 5

1st innings

Ausrtalia 445 all out

India 260 all out

Australia yet to begin their second innings

If Australia manages to score 120- 140 quick runs, and declare, with two sessions in hand, then the match will be interesting .

Akash & Bumrah's heroics has changed complexion of series: Parthiv Patel

Stat: Pat Cummins last four red-ball Tests at the Gabba

2/94 & 4/55 vs Ind 2021

5/38 & 2/51 vs Eng 2021

2/35 & 5/42 vs SA 2022

4/81 vs Ind 2024

24 wickets at 16.50 and a wicket every 32.7 balls.

The last pair added 47 runs, helped India possibly avoid defeat and frustrated the Australians to no end. As things stand, a minimum of 92 overs are left in the Test and Australia will have to do some heavy lifting if they're to clinch a sensational victory. Will they look to bat for the rest of the session, score at a good clip and then ask India to survive two sessions of play? That looks the best bet now, but they'll have one eye on the weather and they wouldn't want to tire out their 3-men bowling attack a lot. No Hazlewood for the second innings, Mitchell Marsh has bowled very little and that has left Starc and Cummins to do the heavy lifting, with Nathan Lyon holding up one end. We'll be back shortly for Australia's batting.

It's been an hour since we last saw action and rain continues to pour in Brisbane. Have we see the last of this Test match?

Would India have taken a 1-1 scoreline going into the MCG Test when the tour schedule was announced? One would probably say yes - they were never expected to beat Australia in Perth, the pink-ball Test in Adelaide was always going to be a challenge and Brisbane was a final frontier conquered only once in 2021. The 'G' has some happy memories for the tourists, but it has been even more happier for one man in particular. Scott Boland is expected to feature in the Boxing day Test and that'll be a challenge in itself for the visitors. On the other hand, Australia would've expected a lead going into the final two Tests of the summer, but they do know that they've been the better team since Perth. We could well be heading towards a cracking end to what has been an entertaining summer of cricket down under. Back to Brisbane though and it continues to pour!

Nathan Lyon: "Yeah it's really frustrating. It's been the trend of the week. I still feel we have a lot of cricket left in the game. We just need the weather to go away. [On Indian dressing room's reaction to avoiding the follow-on] Yeah there's a few of us who spoke about [how we're] surprised about their reaction. We have played well and driven the game to where we are. Frustrating but we are still sitting in the changing room 185 in front. I still feel if we bat well, we can push for an Australian win. We can't control the weather. What we can control is our process. Especially against Jasprit Bumrah, he's been excellent this series. [India's reaction] looked like their top order did not want to bat if we enforced the follow-on. Pushing to enforce the follow-on was pretty challenging with Josh out. Mitch and Pat, they've been brilliant for Australia for a number of years and I'm very privileged to be part of this Australian bowling attack. Their work ethic is excellent. We pride ourselves on our fielding. And we did that watching the Australian guys before us. [On R Ashwin] Nothing but respect. Just the way Ash has conducted himself on and off the field for a number of years now, and his skillset is incredible. We've got different opinions on different things, there's no right or wrong. But to have those conversations with a bowler like Ashwin is amazing. From different variations to different tactics, understanding what he's trying to do. We are both very different. So our conversation this morning was brilliant and I hope we have more through the series and in the future as well. [On India using different spinners] It's an interesting question. You have someone sitting on the bench with 538 wickets and I was scratching my head. But then you also have someone like Jadeja, so it's a good headache to have. [On a message to himself before he made his Test debut] Trust yourself. I was very lucky to be in the side I came into, with Michael Clarke as captain and a lot of great players in and around that team, to have that support."

Gnasher's latest update from the ground: "Much brighter now but not sure this will be a huge gap in the showers."

Ritam: "Controversial opinion but I think, it's a positive for Australia that they don't have to enforce follow on given the amount of workload on Starc and Cummins. Also they wouldn't have probably won with the amount of rain around"

Lyon was also asked if Australia will tweak their lineup in a bid to push for a win. "I'm still going to bat at 10," he quipped.

Apaar: "If there's play only in the last session, what are the chances of Australia declaring without facing a ball?" I highly doubt they will run the risk of a Jaiswal-Pant blitz. And with Hazlewood likely out of the whole series, they will not want to unnecessarily burden Starc and Cummins when the probability of getting a result will be very low.

Deva: "Just call off this day already. There is no chance of a result with heavy rain. Unless Aus declare their 2nd inning with 0/0 and a collapse in last session"