India captain Rohit Sharma opted to field first after winning the toss under cloudy skies in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday. With the series tied 1-1, this match will likely decide the BGT series winner. Australia will aim to build on their dominant Adelaide performance, while India will draw confidence from their historic win in Perth. Australia scored 19/0, and the match was stopped due to rain as per the latest reports.
Australia welcomed back pacer Josh Hazlewood, who had missed the second Test due to a side strain. To accommodate his return, Scott Boland, who had been instrumental with the pink ball, was excluded. India, on the other hand, made two changes, bringing in right-arm seamer Akash Deep and experienced all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, replacing Harshit Rana and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Explaining his decision to field, Rohit Sharma highlighted the conditions:
“We’re going to bowl first. A little bit overcast and has a little bit of grass, looks a bit soft as well, want to make the best use of the conditions. Lot of cricket to be played, both teams have played good cricket in the last two games. Big game for us here, we’ll do what is expected of us. We’ll play good cricket. We understand we have to capture some moments. We didn’t do that in the previous game, which is why we lost,” he remarked.
When asked about the team’s mindset, Rohit added:
“It’s absolutely buzzing. The guys are looking forward to the match, we’re looking forward to coming out here and playing. Looks a little soft at this point in time, conditions bit overcast as well, but it will get better to bat as it goes on. We’ve made two changes, Jadeja and Akash back in place of Ashwin and Harshit.”
Australian captain Pat Cummins admitted his team would have preferred to bowl first as well, citing favorable conditions.
“We would’ve bowled first too. Been a fantastic series so far. Really happy with last week, just about everyone got into the series, been a good lead-up. Preparations have been pretty good. Early finish in Adelaide allowed us to come up here early and get settled. Just one change, Scott Boland is out for Hazlewood,” he said.
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
The match promises to be a thrilling contest with both teams eager to claim the series lead under testing conditions in Brisbane.
