With further rain expected on the final day, India have a good opportunity to finish the Gabba Test with a draw thanks to the undefeated last-wicket partnership between Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep on Day four. With a forecast of 2 to 25 mm of rain, which is comparable to what was anticipated for the fourth day when 58 overs were possible in between the breaks, additional disruptions seem inevitable on Wednesday in a contest that has only seen 192 overs over four days.
What to expect on Day 5?
"High chance of showers, most likely in the late morning and afternoon. The chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe," said Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.
After seeing their chance of enforcing the follow-on taken away by Bumrah and Akash Deep, Australia will need as many overs as possible to force a result on the final day, which has 98 overs scheduled. Australia would need to quickly take India's last wicket and then possibly bat for about 20 overs to set a target in the region of 300 with about 70 overs remaining, depending on how generous they wanted to be. This would be the case if a full day's play was possible, which has only happened so far on the second day when Travis Head and Steven Smith dominated with hundreds.
There will be no cut-off time on the final day of the Gabba Test. However, bad light is another big problem in the ongoing match apart from rain as lights start to fade around 5:30 pm local time in Brisbane.
With Bumrah and Deep still unbeaten, the second innings is yet to start. It will be interesting to see how quickly can Aussies get this final breakthrough. They will most likely have a big lead up their sleeves as India is still trailing b behind by a massive margin of 193 runs.
The hosts will have to get away with an accelerated start after bowling out India if they plan to get a result in this rain-hit match. Then once they have a massive score under their name, they can ask India to bat again and try to bowl them out under the remaining time.
