Rain has final say as Australia, India draw at the Gabba

Australia 445 (Head 152, Smith 101, Carey 70, Bumrah 6-76) and 89 for 7 dec (Bumrah 3-18) drew with India 260 (Rahul 84, Jadeja 77, Cummins 4-81, Starc 3-83) and 8 for 0

Rain had the last word at the Gabba, as was widely expected, but only after Australia and India conjured up the most intriguing of what-ifs in the 22 overs that were possible on the fifth day of the third Border-Gavaskar Test match.

After taking the final India wicket four overs into the day’s play and securing a 185-run first-innings lead, Australia made one final push for victory, going hard at India’s bowling, losing quick wickets in the process, and declaring at 89 for 7 after 18 helter-skelter third-innings overs. That left India with a target of 275 in a theoretical 54 overs. Only 2.1 were possible, as bad light drove the players off the field before rain came back down to signal an early finish.