AUS vs IND

That's it from this Test match. This is Dwaipayan Mukherjee, signing off with my hard-working co-commentator, Sourabh Agrawal. We will see you in Melbourne. The excitement for that is already building up! 

This has been a pretty special Test match for different reasons. India ensure they get out of this without another Aussie win. A legendary spinner announces his retirement - Rohit Sharma mentions that he first heard about it when he arrived in Perth. And that he convinced him to stay till the Pink Ball Test match in Adelaide.

But this news will probably sink in later. For the time being, both sides maintain their position at the World Test Championships. India is in the 3rd spot and Australia are slotted in at 2nd. 

HUGE NEWS: Ravichandran Ashwin has accompanied Rohit Sharma in the press conference after the match and has announced that this was the last day of him as an international cricketer. He thanks everyone involved in his career right from the start, the coaches, the BCCI, his fellow players and specially mentions Rohit, Kohli, Rahane and Pujara who have taken a lot of catches off his bowling. Also goes on to thank the Australian team for being fierce competitors and thanks the media personnel as well. Adds on that he will be involved with the game in some capacity hinting at IPL and other leagues but his time as an international cricketer is up. He then hugs Rohit Sharma and departs from the arena

That is something we did not see coming at all, the stalwart of Indian cricket for the best part of last two decades has called it time on international cricket. He is hailed as a scientist in the cricketing parlance for his extremely meticulous approach and attention to detail. He eats, speaks and breathes cricket. No more Ash-Jaddu combination on Indian pitches, that saddens us as a cricket fan. More of that coming up on SportsKeeda, do have a watch out

Pat Cummins (Australia Captain) : I mean, it would have been better had the score been 2-1. We can't fault the guys, getting 450 after being put in is a terrific effort. Poor Joshy, it was one of those things. The rain helped that way with me and Starcy trying to push on. It was a Day 5 wicket but not much cricket was played on it throughout. Smithy and Head's innings was important. Carey did pretty well too and Lyon sent down fine overs yesterday. We are looking forward to the MCG, can't wait for Boxing Day. 

Rohit Sharma (India captain): We will take that (a draw). Wasn't great to have interruptions like that but going to Melbourne 1-1 gives us confidence that we can pull things towards us. The situation we were in just after lunch (on Day 4), we wanted someone to stand up and take us through. We knew it was not going to be a full game with the weather around. Credit to Rahul at the top and then Jadeja, then Akash and Bumrah at the end, we pride ourselves at that. With the ball, Bumrah was exceptional. He is a feisty character (Akash Deep), always wants to be involved. He is new to international cricket so in difficult situations, we have to put our hand around him and get him through. Certainly a type of character we want to have in our squad

Travis Head (Player of The Match) : I felt I was batting quite well. Unfortunately the weather did not allow us to go too deep. This was a challenging wicket, pleased to go through the wickets. Yes, the effort is always trying to assess the conditions to either push away with the scoring or either holding one end up. Pretty relaxed conversation with Steve as we both thought that we were back in the rhythm and he gives me the freedom to go about things my way because it gives me the confidence that he will be there for a long time. Our match awareness helps. The groin injury is fine, things were a bit niggling for the last couple of weeks but I should be fine. 

Big reports coming in - Travis Head has suffered a groin injury and it is now a race against time for him to get fit before the next match, more on that as we hear 

15:28 Local Time (10:58 IST):  By the looks of it, the Australian staff and players are shaking hands. And now both teams are shaking hands in the rooms. The Test is over. It ends in a draw. The series is level at 1-1 with two Tests left. This will lift the Indians comprehensively. They were defeated in Adelaide and were behind throughout the game here. 

They've decided to call this match because it doesn't look like it's going to get any better. The weather has played spoilsport throughout the match which never really went towards a result unless India were forced to follow-on, which the visitors were able to avoid through a pretty eventful manner. A pretty tame finish to the game but let's be honest, many of us saw this kind of an end to this match. All kinds of permutations and combinations were being used and we had a couple of entertaining little sessions of play today before rain had the final say. It is quite fascinating to go down the route of what could possibly happen if the the rain stayed out. With India set a 275-run target and with about 40 overs realistically left before they went off, who was to say that all 3 results were not in the possibility zone. India actually had a great morning. Australia came out with an intent to attack and it sort of backfired. Wickets tumbled quickly as India bowled with great assertion and that meant that although Australia batted and eventually declared for 89/7 after 18 overs, they would be sad. 

Anupam : "Regardless of the result, we just saw a great fight back from India which made all 3 results possible. Surely they will carry this confidence in the next game as well." Absolutely, this had some similarities to Sydney 2021 and it was extremely crucial for India to avoid that follow on. 

The broadcast is continuously showing the stats of R Ashwin who as I earlier said was seen having a big chat with Kohli which ended with a warm embrace. Mark Nicholas, Hayden and Gavaskar are even speculating about the veteran off-spinner calling it a day. Remember, these are just speculations at this stage

15:15 Local Time (10:45 IST): No improvement in the conditions, in fact is has gone even more bleak. Rain is pretty strong and the chances of a resumption stand next to none. We're on the verge of heading to Melbourne with the series leveled at 1-1, what a spectacle that would be at the Boxing Day with the G packed and the series on the line

15:05 Local Time (10:35 IST): Live visuals show Kohli and Ashwin having a chat seated in their seats in the dressing room, a pretty long one as Mark Nicholas on broadcast points that out and it is followed by a warm hug between the two and we can see rain falling pretty hard as the covers are firmly on, we are fast approaching a draw

Sumit Verma: "Is it raining out there?" The rain has arrived at the Gabba and it has arrived to put an end to the proceedings if I may add as bad as it may sound

Rahul: "Assume that 40 overs to be played and 260 required so almost 7 rpo.. can India play aggressive like they did in September against Bangladesh in 2nd test? As it's little hard for Aus to take 10 wickets with 3 bowlers!!" That sounds so mouth-watering Rahul but I hate to say this that we are at a risk of not getting any more play, let's keep our fingers crossed though and hope for the best

14:55 Local Time (10:25 IST): Welcome back for the final session of this test match. First things first, and most important too, we should have started by now but the conditions are bleak and the covers are on

Before players walked off for bad light and an early tea, 2.1 overs were bowled in the Indian innings with a target of 275.

The momentum since the Bumrah-Akash Deep partnership last evening has gone to the Indian camp and Australia with their haphazard approach today have all but made the match even more interesting and open. A potential of 51.5 overs remain in the match and both the teams have different targets, 267 more runs for India and 10 wickets for Australia.

But and that is a big but, the bigger question, as it has been throughout this test match is the weather. With dark clouds and an impending storm surrounding the Gabba, it will be a huge surprise and a pleasant one if I may add, if we get even close to the number of overs left.

This is Sourabh along with Dwaipayan and we will be your company as we get close to a possible thrilling conclusion (fingers crossed it's not marred by weather). Will we get any more play?

With that, it is time for the duo of Darpan Tikiya and Pradeep to sign off. But don't go too far, we could be in for a dramatic finish if and when the play resumes. Over to Sourabh Agrawal and Dwaipayan Mukherjee, who we hope will bring with them some sun and more cricket-friendly weather. 

2:34pm local time [10:04am IST] - Bad news! The players have been told to walk off. It is NOT raining. Play has rather been suspended due to bad light. And that will be Tea on Day 5.

Tea, Day 5: India need another 267 runs to win with a minimum of 51.5 overs remaining in the day's play.

Session Summary: 20.1 overs, 97 runs, 7 wickets.

Australia's brief "fever dream like" innings has left this match stupendously poised. India need to score more than what they managed to in the first innings. The wicket is still pretty good for both batting and bowling. And if the weather stays fine, we have enough time left for a result. 

It could go either way. India's top order is short of runs. But with the carrot of a historic victory dangling around, they might just push themselves a bit extra and get the job done. On the other hand, Australia are a bowler short. Yet, they have taken the bold call. Their batters came out swinging the willow and augmented the lead to 274. The hosts did not mind losing wickets and declared to leave enough overs for the bowlers to try and bundle the opposition out.

In the 2.1 overs that the Indian openers faced, they appeared proactive but not reckless by any means. 

Don't go too far. We could be in for a dramatic finish if and when play resumes. 

2.1 Mitchell Starc to KL Rahul, length delivery, shaping in on the off-stump. Rahul let's it come to him, patted it to cover point and picks up another single.