In a match that has had just 192 overs across four days, more interruptions appear likely on Wednesday with between 2mm and 25mm of rain forecast, which is similar to what was predicted for the fourth day when 58 overs were possible between the interruptions.
“High chance of showers, most likely in the late morning and afternoon,” said Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology. “The chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe.”
The final day will have 98 overs scheduled and Australia will need as many as possible if they are to force a result after seeing their chance of enforcing the follow-on taken away by Bumrah and Akash Deep.
If an entire day’s play was possible, which so far has only happened on the second day when Travis Head and Steven Smith dominated with centuries, Australia would need to quickly take India’s final wicket then potentially bat for around 20 overs to set a target in the region of 300 with around 70 overs remaining, depending on how generous they wanted to be.
On the final day of a Test there is no cut-off time for the overs to be bowled, although light in Brisbane starts to fade at around 5.30pm local time.
Australia, however, are a bowler down due to the calf injury sustained by Josh Hazlewood so may need to factor that into their planning should the opportunity arise. Nathan Lyon would likely need to do a considerable amount of work although Daniel Vettori, Australia’s assistant coach, said that regular breaks had allowed the quicks to stay relatively fresh.
“The weather, in terms of the breaks, allowed Mitch and Patty to come back on multiple occasions whereas if we’d played out the full 90 overs it would have been a lot tougher to manage,” he said. “We always have the luxury of Nathan and his ability to bowl a lot of overs. So that alleviated a bit of the concern but it’s always a tough one with a world class bowler being out.”
KL Rahul, who top-scored for India with 84, conceded that the frequent stoppages made it difficult for all the players.
“I think I got most tired running up and down from the dressing room more than being in the middle,” he joked. “But it was a challenge. It wasn’t easy for us. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for them as well to keep going on for a couple of overs, go back, sit in the dressing room, change again, come back. So, it was a frustrating day for both teams but it is what it is.”
