The third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Gabba finally ended in a draw as the rain again played a spoilsport on the final day of the Test match. Chasing a target of 275 runs, India were eight for no loss in 2.1 overs before the match was interrupted due to rain. However, after avoiding follow-on, the Indian bowlers had an upper hand against Australia on day five. Apart from that, Virat Kohli also made headlines with his masterplan to get rid of Travis Head in the second innings. The left-hander continued his dangerous form against India with a knock of 152(160) runs in the first innings. Head was also looking to get quick runs in the second innings as Australia were looking to declare early on day five.
However, Virat Kohli came up with a plan and was caught on stump mic suggesting Mohammed Siraj to bowl over the wicket and asked skipper Rohit Sharma to put a square leg behind. “Over (over the wicket) se agar ye scramble wala daalega middle stump se to out hone ka chance hai, sahi keh raha hai vo. Square leg peeche de de in-swing ke liye aur stump par daalne de (If he bowls scrambled seam delivery from the middle-stump line, Head can get out, Siraj is doing the right thing. Give him a square leg behind for inswinger and let him target the stumps),” Kohli was quoted as saying on stump mic. It turned out to be a success as Siraj dismissed Head on the next delivery with the wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant collecting the ball near the gully.
Rain spoils play again on day 5, Gabba Test ends in draw
Talking about the match, India successfully avoided follow-on with Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah adding 47 runs for the final wicket. After that, Indian bowlers took charge on day five as Australia kept losing regular wickets in the second innings. The hosts lost five wickets for just 33 runs.
After skipper Pat Cummins scored a quickfire 22(10) runs as Australia declared on 89/7 in 18 overs. For India, Jasrit took three wickets, while Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj scalped two wickets each. After that, India could only score eight runs before the rain decided to play a spoilsport again. Now the series is currently levelled at 1-1 with two matches to go.
