Rain ends day four early, Aussies still need 10 wickets

Australia's decision to bat on past tea today as thunderstorms threatened the Gabba might have cost them a crack at India's top-order before stumps were prematurely drawn, but it will be Brisbane's intemperate weather that looms likely to decide the outcome of the Vodafone Series.

After setting India a target of 328 to achieve victory and history, Australia was able to send down just 11 deliveries tonight before a forecast thunderstorm descended on the Gabba and put paid to the final hour of play.

Heavy rain is forecast for Brisbane overnight, but there is hope it might clear sufficiently early on Tuesday to allow most, if not all of the minimum 98 overs that will decide the fate of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

India survived that brief spell for the addition of four runs and the loss of no wickets, and return for tomorrow's final day knowing that no team has scored more than 236 in the fourth innings to win a Test in Brisbane since Australia set that benchmark against the West Indies 70 years ago.

However, the visitors – who need only to avoid defeat to retain the Trophy – will be aware it's just four summers since their near neighbours and fierce rivals, Pakistan, posted 450 in an unsuccessful fourth-innings pursuit albeit against the pink ball on a markedly different pitch.

Needing to win the final Test to reclaim the prize, Australia found themselves trapped between needing to post a sufficiently high total to stymie India's hopes of winning against allowing themselves enough time to claim 10 wickets on a pitch just starting to misbehave.

The algorithms being run in the home dressing room while Australia batted on after tea were complicated by uncertainties over the weather, which also claimed the final session on day two.

Earlier, Australia's hopes of pushing along their scoring rate to reach a lead beyond 300 were hamstrung by another brave performance from the India bowling attack, which included five overs from Navdeep Saini who is nursing a groin injury, and Mohammed Siraj's maiden five-wicket haul.

Siraj was not expected to feature in the Vodafone Series given his place in the pace pecking-order behind incumbent quicks Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav.

But the 26year-old's decision not to return home last November when his father died led to him earning a Test cap at the MCG and, as the other quicks all succumbed to injury, he became the first India bowler to claim a five-wicket haul in the series which he ended as their leading wicket-taker (13 at 29.53).

More foreseeable was Steve Smith's top score in Australia's second innings today (55 from 74 balls) during which he overtook Mark Taylor (7,525) on Australia's all-time Test runs scorer list, finishing the Vodafone Series on 7,540 runs (average 61.80).

Smith will head to South Africa where Australia's next Test campaign is scheduled to take place next month eyeing the next on that honour roll – his current coach, Justin Langer (7,696 runs).

From the manner in which Australia started the fourth day, it seemed they had decided full throttle was to be the default speed for their second innings.

After rattling to 20 from 22 balls faced on Sunday evening – which Australia finished 0-21 and 54 runs ahead – David Warner slapped the morning's third ball from Siraj to the mid-off boundary in a clear signal the same strategy would be employed today.

It was a ploy that brought with it a measure of calculated risk.

Twice in the space of three overs early in the day, India's new-ball pair induced false strokes from Australia's openers but Marcus Harris's forward push landed short of Rohit Sharma at second slip and Warner's spar outside off-stump cleared the same fielder's head.

But the Australians soon settled and posted their 50-run partnership in the day's sixth over as Harris helped himself to a pair of boundaries from Thangarasu Natarajan, who looked to be labouring at the back end of his maiden Test.

It was just the second time in the four-match Vodafone Series Australia had been given a 50-plus start by their opening combination, the other coming as they chased a meagre victory target at Adelaide Oval where Matthew Wade and Joe Burns – neither of whom lasted in the role – combined for 70.

But after Harris and Warner plundered 40 from India's first seven overs on day four, skipper Ajinkya Rahane turned to his batting heroes of the previous day – Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar – and they quickly changed the game's course once again.

Initially, they achieved it by slowing Australia's free-scoring that was threatening to bat India out of the match and facilitate an early declaration.

Then, in the space of six deliveries, the pair removed both Australia openers and hauled their irrepressible team back into the contest.

Harris was caught behind when a bouncer from Thakur flicked the left-hander's right glove as he attempted to duck beneath the ball but left his hands instinctively above his head.

Warner's dismissal seemed equally cut and dried when he shaped to late-cut Sundar behind point but was struck on his back leg in front of the wicket, but as he ruefully headed for the dressing room he engaged in a long-range discussion with partner Marnus Labuschagne over the wisdom of a review.

As Warner muttered and shook his head, the countdown clock appeared to reach its 15-second limit in which DRS requests must be lodged just before Warner signalled his intention to challenge the verdict.

His request was upheld, as was umpire Paul Wilson's on-field decision, but the chronology could have proved problematic if technology dictated the call be overturned and India were deprived of the wicket.

Labuschagne then came and went in a flurry of boundaries, caught at second slip by Rohit off Siraj, and Wade lasted just three deliveries before tickling an attempted leg glance so fine it was snared by 'keeper Rishabh Pant diving to his right.

Wade's return for the four-Test series – half of which he filled in as opener in Warner's absence – showed 173 runs at an average of 21.62 with a highest score of 45, meaning he's not reached 50 in his past 14 Test innings.

In the course of six overs, Australia had surrendered 4-34 and there suddenly appeared a legitimate risk of being bowled out cheaply thereby opening the door for a most unlikely India win.

That prospect would be mitigated while Steve Smith remained at the wicket, although the pace at which he and allrounder Cameron Green were able to advance Australia's lead was significantly reduced by the clatter of wickets.

Smith was frustrated by India's persistence with a packed leg-side field that allowed him little scope for stroke-play while Green was even more constrained and spent more than 90 minutes in the middle before scoring his first boundary.

Both men offered chances that Siraj was unable to grasp.

The first was a skied on-drive by Smith (on 42) that the India fast bowler not only turfed as he scrambled to his left in the deep, but also failed to keep inside the field of play, handing the ex-Australia skipper a valuable boundary.

Three overs later, Green struck a lofted drive from Siraj's bowling that the quick was unable to hold despite getting both hands to the sharp chance.

However, he made up for his lapses with a crucial strike soon after when he had Smith caught in the gully from a delivery that flew off a length and rapped the Australian on the right glove as he withdrew his hand.

Smith initially believed his hand might have come off the bat handle when struck, which would have meant his dismissal might be overturned on review, but the video evidence quickly quashed that line of defence.

The ball that accounted for Smith – the only Australia player to reach 50 in their second innings – indicated the Gabba pitch might have been succumbing to the deterioration it had threatened since a crack opened up down its centre on day two.

Green fell to another ball that struck high on the bat and flew into the safe grasp of Rohit who equalled the record of catches taken in a Test (five) by an India fielder in Australia, which was set by Kris Srikkanth at Perth in 1991-92.

As the storm clouds rolled across Brisbane, Paine looked to increase the tempo, scoring 27 from 37 balls and pushing his team's lead past 250.

The first rain interruption arrived just after 2.30pm at which point tea was taken early, and even though the game did not resume until an hour later only a solitary over was lost as the scheduled time for stumps was extended to 5.30pm.

But by opting to bat for a further 50 minutes, in which time Australia added 51 runs for the loss of their final three wickets, the hosts missed out on the opportunity to snare a couple of India wickets before the tempest set in.

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: India won by eight wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT