rewrite this title Past and present weigh on India, and Australia, as the fabled Gabba beckons

In 2003, Sourav Ganguly’s men ended up on the receiving end of a pretty rough time in Brisbane. None of the top three could get into double-digits in their first innings, only one did, barely, in their second. “Indian summer over,” said the newspaper headline, reporting on that tour game ahead of the four-match Test series.

The Gabba has offered sterner welcomes over the years, particularly in the days when the game was played on uncovered tracks. England resorted to inverting their batting line-up – Alec Bedser moved from No. 10 to No. 5 and Denis Compton from No. 4 to No. 9 – in a chase of 193 and it still wouldn’t work. They lost that series 4-1. Australia don’t use this place to say “welcome”. They use it to say “beware”. This is where they would usually meet visiting teams for the first Test and break them right off the bat. No acclimatisation. But maybe subjugation.

“By the end of this tour, we will find out how good we are, individually and as a team,” Ganguly said 21 years ago. He was leading his team into a fortress. At the time India had won only three out of 29 Tests in Australia, and when they slipped to 127 for 4 responding to 323, there was a crushing sense of the status quo.

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Then an Indian left-hand batter decided to do something about it and history was made. Ganguly made perhaps his finest century to help draw that first Test in the tour of 2003-04. His 144 remains the highest score by a visiting captain at this ground. India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on that tour. They backed up 2001 with 2003. The Gabbatoir, which was meant to whittle the opposition down into selfs, both doubt and loathing, became the scene of a revolution. The wet weather even switched sides.

India have had a fair few highs in Australia since then (and one abysmal failure). Perth 2008 which was a saga of its own. Adelaide 2014 which is fondly remembered despite it being a loss. All of it led to 2018 and peaked three short years later.

Back in the present, KL Rahul, after wrapping up a batting session that took over an hour, navigated the cold, steel, underground labyrinth of walkways that connects the nets with the main ground and there he just sat, in the dugout, with the ground unfurled at his feet. He wasn’t part of the win in 2021; he had sprained his wrist at training at the MCG and had to go home. But one of his best friends was present. Mayank Agarawal had walked alongside Rishabh Pant as they took a lap of honour around the ground. Rahul would have heard all the tales from that night.

Jasprit Bumrah was injured too but he was still there. And he is once again here. He began his net session imitating R Ashwin. He called out a carrom ball and bowled it and almost hit off stump. That groin trouble that left him on the floor for several minutes in Adelaide seems to have passed. He bowled full tilt at the nets. Several audible grunts confirmed that. And just in case anyone’s curious, Rahul’s play-leave also frustrates his own bowlers.

India feel good here. Washington Sundar, who has named his dog after the Gabba, might be featuring in a video put out soon by the BCCI, walking around the ground. Either that or he wanted a mental snapshot because after the Ashes Test next year, they’re going to redo the Gabba into a multi-sport centre in preparation for the Olympics in 2032.

All the history that this place contains. The first ever tied Test in 1960. Selector Don Bradman and captain Richie Benaud having a famously casual conversation over tea, about Australia not giving up. The greyhound track installed in the 1970s and removed in the 1990s. Kevin Mitchell Sr running onto the field with his groundstaff behind him in a tractor to the bewilderment of the Australian and the New Zealand players in 1989 and saving a one-day match from being lost to rain. Nasser Hussain doing that thing at the toss.

Australia love it here. Allan Border, who has a statue at the Gabba, a Sheffield Shield win after retiring with Queensland, a home in Brisbane and also a stadium in his name in the city, used to say, “The wickets are hard and this traditionally suits Australian cricketers who are reared on hard surfaces – on malthoid, cement and matting. They are new-ball wickets with the ball coming on and they suit our cricket best.”

There have been blips lately – West Indies took Australia down here just this year in a pink-ball Test – but that was played in January. This one against India is being played at the start of the season, when the pitch is a lot fresher. A recent Shield game, albeit a day-night one, had 15 wickets falling on the first day. The Gabba is not for the faint of heart. It never has been.