Ravindra Jadeja (AP Photo)
NEW DELHI: The opening day of the third India vs Australia Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy got washed out, after brief action, due to rain in Brisbane on Saturday.
With only 13.2 overs of play happening, Australia got to 28 for no loss with both Australia openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney surviving the opening burst from the India bowlers under cloudy skies.
While the India pacers failed to make good use of the overcast conditions on Saturday, the venue has had almost nothing to offer to spinners over the last few years.
India have gone into the game with Ravindra Jadeja as their solitary spin option while on the other side, Australia have Nathan Lyon at their disposal.
With rain threat looming over the match for the next four days as well, spinners aren’t likely to make much of an impact and to go with that the Gabba, traditionally, hasn’t been kind to the turners as well. Especially when it comes to visiting spinners, the Gabba has had very less to offer.
Since 2020, visiting spinners have bowled a mere 70.1 overs — 14 per innings — and have had an average of 1.2 wickets in it.
Barring Washington Sundar, who is not featuring in this game, no visiting spinner has bowled more than 15 overs at the venue in a Test.
In the last 3 Tests at the Gabba, spinners have managed only six wickets out of which three have been taken by Washington.
Even Australia’s spin great Lyon has had a tough time at the venue.
Since 2020, Lyon has bowled 116 overs where he has managed just 11 wickets. Lyon, on average, has bowled 19.2 overs in an innings at the Gabba and has had a mere 1.8 per innings.
Lyon vs visiting spinners at Gabba (since 2020)
| Overs | Wickets | Overs/Innings | Wickets/Innings | |
| Visiting spinners | 70.1 | 6 | 14.0 | 1.2 |
| Nathan Lyon | 116 | 11 | 19.2 | 1.8 |
Washington did play a game at Brisbane in 2021 where he bowled 49 overs and ended up with four wickets, making him the best touring spinner at the venue in recent times.
In the first two matches this time around, India went with Sundar and R Ashwin but both weren’t used by the skipper much as both averaged 9 overs per innings and bowled a combined over 35 overs.
With conditions not in favour, a venue that hasn’t been kind, it will be interesting how effectively Rohit Sharma uses Ravindra Jadeja and gets the most out of him in the remaining four days of the third Test.
