Rain dampened the mood at the Gabba in Brisbane on Saturday as only 13.2 overs were possible on Day I of the third Test in the ongoing series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Openers Usman Khawaja (19 batting) and Nathan McSweeney (batting on 4) were cautious after India won the toss and put Australia into bat in gloomy overhead conditions. With the conditions not improving, play was called off for the day at around 11.45am India time.
An early start at 5.20am (IST) has been scheduled for all the remaining days of the Test, as it’s now over to the Indian quicks to make early inroads and limit Australia to a modest total.
In the little bit of play possible on Saturday, India’s bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah gave little away in his six overs, troubling Khawaja occasionally. His new-ball partner Mohammed Siraj again wasn’t as disciplined, but Akash Deep — coming in place of Harshit Rana — was impressive. Spinner all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is the other change in the XI, replacing Ravichandran Ashwin.
Akash, in his maiden Test on Australian soil, gave away just a couple of runs in his 3.2 overs on Saturday and bowled two maidens as well before the heavens opened up.
Why the Bengal pacer, who has done well even on flat Indian decks since his debut earlier in February, wasn’t considered since the start of this series Down Under has been a talking point. Harshit, who has worked with team head coach Gautam Gambhir at Kolkata Knight Riders when the latter was the franchise’s team mentor in this year’s IPL, didn’t do anything special except for bowling well in the first innings in Perth.
In the previous Test in Adelaide, he had a really tough time with the pink ball, getting hit for 86 off his 16 overs and going wicketless. With the bat too, the Delhi guy got a pair. Now that India have chosen Akash over Harshit in this Brisbane Test, the onus is on the 27-year-old to vindicate the team management’s decision.
So far Akash has been disciplined and has concentrated on the fuller length, which many feel is the right thing to do for quicks for success at the Gabba.
On one occasion, Akash came tantalisingly close to picking McSweeney up. It was a fuller-length ball pitched a little wider of the off-stump, tempting the Australian opener to go for a drive.
It missed the edge of the bat by a whisker. Akash might also try and bring the ball back into the right-hander, who often is a leg-before candidate.
“What’s most important for Akash is to continue bowling the fuller length because that works best for quicks in Australian conditions. He shouldn’t get carried away with the bounce and carry,” former Bengal head coach Sourasish Lahiri, who has tracked the pacer’s progress since his U-23 days and is currently coaching Bengal U-19, emphasised.
“But even if he doesn’t do well in this Test, he needs to be persisted with,” Lahiri added.