Courtesy: Gabba
The third Test of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series between Australia and India is set to begin on Saturday, December 14, at the Gabba in Brisbane, where these two teams played an epic contest nearly four years ago. With the series level at 1-1, including a dominating win each for Australia and India, the third Test is a great opportunity for both teams to take the ascendancy in the BGT with some quality performances from their players over the next five days.
After going 1-0 up in the series with a 295-run win in the first Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth under stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah, India lost the second Test at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, a day-night pink ball contest by 10 wickets in leadership of Rohit Sharma. In the build-up to the third BGT Test match, India might drop Harshit Rana for Akash Deep, while Australia are expected to bring back Josh Hazlewood in the playing XI in place of Scott Boland, who had replaced him due to his side strain last week.
With neither of the two batting lineups playing at their best, the experienced players like Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, and Rohit Sharma are under pressure to deliver the goods with the bat in the third Test. The pitch at the Gabba in Brisbane is expected to be quite green at the start of the match, which could lead to yet another low-scoring contest between Australia and India with their bowling lineup feasting on the conditions.
Talking about the weather for day one of the third Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, it is expected to stay cloudy, windy, and humid throughout the day, according to the listings on AccuWeather after early morning rains. The probability of precipitation on Saturday, December 14, stands at 88% and the probability of thunderstorms stands at 53% during the day time hours, with 6.9 millimetres of rain in and around the venue.
During the first day’s play in Brisbane, there will be wind gusts of around 35 km/h during the day, which could help in blowing away some of the heavy rain from the venue. But still, the fans might have to endure a few rain interruptions when Australia and India take on each other at the Gabba, due to which the session timings of the BGT Test match might change on the fly.
