Live Report: Australia vs India, 4th Test, Brisbane, 3rd day

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Report

Updates, analysis and colour from the third day of the fourth Test

Welcome to our live report of the third day of the Australia-India Test from Brisbane. Join us for updates, analysis and colour. You can find our traditional ball-by-ball commentary here

11.17am: Agarwal the middle-order batsman, and Australia’s bowling plans

The No. 5 numbers are from today, so it is his maiden first-class innings in this position. He does still have the Pat Cummins challenge, and it is proving quite difficult for him at that end. But on the other is Cameron Green, against whom he has looked fairly comfortable. He also got to start against Nathan Lyon. You’d think he would be most comfortable against those two in this bowling line-up. Could Australia be applying more pressure on him?

10.43am

10.19am: Lengths

The first bits of shadow are visible now as the sun peeks out at the Gabba. Pujara and Rahane have been extremely watchful – and a bit lucky, in the case of the latter – as Australia slam the pitch just short of a good length. That’s also given Pujara, in particular, some boundary scoring opportunities square of the wicket. In the 36th over we saw Starc changing up to a more full length to him, and Hazlewood has immediately started on the fuller side of good length as well. It’s a pitch with pace and bounce, but it’s not as lively as it sometimes appears. Perhaps Australia have understood that keeping these two on their back foots is not as effective at the moment.

9.36am: The forecast

Much better viewing than yesterday’s hourly breakdown.

9.10am: Another crucial first hour

They always are, and India, two down and 307 behind at the moment, have quite a task on their hands. There’s plenty of pace and bounce here at the Gabba, though not a whole lot of seam movement, so it should be a balanced contest between bat and ball. It will be interesting to see if the cracks open up a little more today as well. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are at the crease, after Rohit Sharma fell in polarising fashion. He copped a lot of criticism for the shot he played, having looked so good while settling in, but Sidharth Monga offers some balance in this piece.

Varun Shetty is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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