A Wednesday of pouring rain, crumbling wickets and runs, both blitzkrieg and tentative, added some pulsating drama to a contest that finally ended in a draw. The third Test’s fifth and final day wound to an early close with damp weather forcing a quick covering of the pitch here at the Gabba.
Pursuing 275 in the second innings for a miraculous triumph, India started cautiously even as Yashasvi Jaiswal and K.L. Rahul were alive to the quick single. Just as the score moved to eight for no loss, dark clouds swept across and the players retreated to the pavilion, never to return again.
Earlier, nursing a lead of 185, keen to force a result and with one eye on the dark skies, Australia stepped out with an aggressive veneer in the second innings. The script was soon torn between quick runs and rapid wickets. Usman Khawaja launched an airy drive and heard his timber rattle while Jasprit Bumrah exulted. The latter then drew an edge from Marnus Labuschagne.
Nathan McSweeney chased a wide delivery from Akash Deep, who also scalped Mitchell Marsh. Travis Head hit a few but he and Steve Smith fell to Mohammed Siraj. Alex Carey and Pat Cummins then swung their bats around as the quest for quick runs continued. Finally a bit after Bumrah induced a miscued shot from Cummins, the latter implemented the declaration at 89 for seven.
In the morning, a gloomy one with clouds billowing around, India resumed its first innings at the overnight 252 for nine. The visitors’ first innings stretched for another four overs. Bumrah was all straight bat and the odd missed sweep.
Akash, meanwhile, seemed eager to press ahead. This trait also meant that he had overstepped a little while countering Head and when Carey whipped the bails, the batter’s feet was on the crease and not behind.
Rightly, he was adjudged stumped and India finished with 260 but by then the last-wicket pair had added 47 vital runs, a critical yield that helped India avoid the follow-on and stay afloat in the series.
Just as the decks were cleared for Australia’s second innings, match officials and ground authorities instructed the players and the sparse audience to step back as thunderstorms were expected. There was a stillness in the air and some sun too but the forecast turned real as the rain descended, slow and intense by turns.
In The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy wrote: “Slanting silver ropes slammed into loose earth, ploughing it up like gunfire.” The wet lines at Brisbane, may not have matched the fictional ones in Kerala, which Roy referred to, but this was a steady accompaniment, not an interlude, never a cameo, but an insistent brooding presence all through the clash. And one that perhaps had the last word in a Test that constantly raised the ‘what-if’ question.