Aus vs India, 3rd Test BGT – Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins stay ahead in the race against the weather

In a Test where time will clearly be a precious commodity, it was a little strange to see Alex Carey and Nathan Lyon add 22 runs in ten overs on the third morning at the Gabba.

India have failed to reach 200 in three out of four innings in this series and at 51 for 4, a fourth is possible. There are also some patterns emerging in how Australia fares through the batting line-up.

It was the full ball that struck for Starc next, but this one owed much more to Marsh. Shubman Gill was driving, caught a big edge and Marsh jumped left in the gully. “The bison can fly,” Ravi Shastri continued SEN Radio, based on Marsh’s nickname. Gully is the position that Cameron Green occupies when he is in the team and he has saved some stunning catches. Marsh could hardly contain himself during the celebrations.

“Since coming back to the Test team, pitching at Gully is probably the most nervous I get because Greeny will probably go down in history as the best of all time and if you drop one there they always compare you to Greeny said Marsh. “The boys are always on me about how slow I move and the fact that I can’t jump or move around the field so I can do something like that at any time – to be fair I probably don’t even jump had to, but I thought about it.” I would add some mayonnaise.

The first ball of Hazlewood’s next over caught the glove of Virat Kohli, who also climbed from a length but fell behind the bowler on his follow-through. A few overs later, Starc made another one-jump to Kohli, who did well to keep the ball towards the vacant short-leg area.

With rain threatening, Rahul hit a sharp ball from Hazlewood towards fine leg. Starc sprinted around the rope and made an excellent save to keep the batters at one hit, meaning Kohli was on strike.

Hazlewood’s next ball landed in a wide channel outside the outfield, but as he often does these days, Kohli played with a drive away from his body, it hit the edge and Carey took the catch. As Hazlewood began to celebrate, the Australian fielders also made a beeline for Starc, who high-fived as if the wicket was on his list. At least it was a brilliant assist. As was the case with Jaiswal, Kohli’s hundred in the second innings in Perth is starting to look like a blip.

To add to India’s pain, soon after Kohli walked away, so did the other players before another ball was bowled as the rain set in, in what was to be a Groundhog Day experience.

In a long series of tests, duels take shape. Bumrah is all over Nathan McSweeney, Starc dominates Jaiswal, Cummins has the upper hand over Pant (although nothing is as one-sided as Matt Henry’s record against Zak Crawley on the other side of the Tasman). The rain could prevent Australia from pushing for victory in Brisbane, but it appears their attack has a firm grip on India’s batting line-up, which will be difficult to break.