![Day 5 of the Gabba Test is likely to be hit with rain.](https://static.indiatvnews.com/ins-web/images/lazy-big.webp)
A valiant fight from Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep helped India avoid a much-looming follow-on in the 3rd Test against Australia at Gabba on Tuesday, December 17. With India surely out of hope after the fall of the ninth wicket in Ravindra Jadeja, with the visitors still 33 runs away from that magic number of 246, tall stood the two bowlers who turned out to be the saviours with the willow in hand.
Bumrah, who had asked the reporters not to doubt his batting ability a day ago, and Akash, who can swing the bat, batted with sheer patience to bail India out of the hole. They put up an unbeaten stand of 39 for the final wicket to cut Australia's lead to 193 and go to stumps at 252/9 on a rain-hit fourth day.
Had they not put up that valiant effort, the visitors would have been asked to bat again, and the Aussies might have been targeting a much more possible win in Gabba. But now, it seems a draw is the biggest possibility, with more rain predicted on Day 5.
As confirmed by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, there are "High chance of showers, most likely in the late morning and afternoon" on December 18, which is the final day of the Gabba Test. "The chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe," it added.
As per Accuweather, there is a 90% chance of precipitation on December 18. The Gabba Test starts at 9:50 AM local time, which is 5:20 AM IST. As far as the hour-by-hour predictions go, there is only a 7% chance of precipitation at 9 AM, 10 AM and 11 AM local times. The weather is expected to be cloudy during this period.
However the rain predictions soar up to 49% at 1 PM before reaching 60% at 2 PM, 62% at 3 PM and 66% at 4 PM. Thunderstorms are expected during this time. The rain probability dips down to 49% for 5 PM and 37% for 6 PM with the sky expected to be cloudy.
The third and fourth days were also affected by rain. Only 58 overs could have been bowled on the fourth day with India making 201 runs for the loss of five wickets. 98 overs can be bowled on the final day and although there is no cut-off time on the final day of a Test match, the light begins to fade at around 5:30 PM local time in Brisbane. So far, only 192 overs have been bowled in the Test match with Day 1 witnessing only 13.2 overs.