India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Highlights: India's top-order collapses again on rain-hit day

IND vs AUS Live Score: Well, the India batters haven't tucked away the cover drive but if it is done so beautifully then who cares. Pat Cummins bowls the first over after resumption, a full one outside off and Rahul meets it with the sweetest of cover drives for four.

IND vs AUS Live Score: Which means we go again in about five minutes. We can see Rishabh Pant chatting with Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir in the dressing room. The covers have been taken off and that rope is being run over the grass, wonder if it will snap in two by the end of the day. Some of the Australian players are out by the boundary.

IND vs AUS Live Score: The umpires are walking out to inspect... again. And we should have some update on when play should resume... again. That kind of a day today.

IND vs AUS Live Score: And the players are walking off again. That is the fifth time today. The covers are on and it is fairly heavy rain now. A quiet little period so far, not too many big chances. Pant is on nine off 11, Rahul on 21 off 47. Starc just bowled his seventh over. The problem with these rain breaks for India is that Starc can bowl a really long spell here as he can remain fresh.

India 39/3, trail by 406

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: And more importantly for India, no wickets in it. Rahul fends the first ball which is back of a length and takes a single. Pant then drives the fourth ball confidently and the batters run three. Pant is on seven off five, Rahul on 16 off 41.

Now Cummins brings himself on.

India 32/3 in 11 overs

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: For the fourth time today, play resumes after a rain break, with this one being much longer than the previous two. Josh Hazlewood continues in his fifth over, he had bowled just one before the players were forced off. Rahul on strike, having eked out 14 runs in 33 balls, Pant at the other end on four off two.

India 27/3

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: All right here we go then! KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant waiting on the sidelines. Rahul is on 14 off 33, Pant on four off two. The Australians are waiting by the boundary as well, looking like a very happy bunch.

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: It isn't really pouring at the moment but there is more coming. We could be out for a while. We can see Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal looking at something intently on one of the screens in the Indian dressing room. The visitors are in a real hole here, in more ways than one, and it will take a miracle for them to make anything of this Test.

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: It's that kind of day. Hazlewood finishes his over and then Starc bowls a maiden. Pant pulls out very late first ball of the next over, Hazlewood loads again and Pant takes a single. Then it starts absolutely pelting down and the players run off.

India 27/3 in 9.1 overs

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Rishabh Pant is on strike, Josh Hazlewood steams for the third ball of his fourth over. Right, can India somehow avoid a follow-on here?

India 22/3

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Cheteshwar Pujara has said that all three wickets are down to poor shot selection from India as they were not unplayable deliveries. “One would say it is poor shot selection. You can say that they have bowled well and they have pitched it up but if you look at the three dismissals, none of them were great deliveries. You can easily negotiate those balls,” he says on Star Sports.

“Look at the way KL Rahul has batted today. Shown a lot of character, left a lot of balls, that is the approach required as a team, to survive the first 30 overs,” he further said

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Lunch has been taken with India in absolute disarray. The second session starts at 8.25am IST. Australia's top three batted out nearly 30 overs, leaving as many balls as they could and grinding out runs. This allowed Travis Head and, later, Steve Smith to pummel the old ball. India's top order seem to have come out with no intention other than attacking the full ball. This means Rishabh Pant is now out there in the 8th over. Head coach Gautam Gambhir had said during the New Zealand series that India see batting as only a way to set up the game. Surely, surely that doesn't mean that batting has no value at all and the only way to go is score runs as quickly as possible. Surely that can't be Rohit Sharma and Gambhir's idea of how India should approach batting in Test cricket.

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: The clouds opened up as soon as Kohli fell and Rishabh Pant had to do a little about turn as the umpires asked the players to head back as soon as he made his way out to the middle. What an unbelievable opening spell this has been from Starc and Hazlewood, regardless of the robotic manner in which the Indian batters have kept going for those drives. A big reason why they have kept driving is because Starc and Hazlewood have been as consistent as ever with their lines and lengths. India need a real miracle to stop another collapse, and possibly an innings defeat.

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Full delivery from Hazlewood, Kohli nicks off a drive and falls. Rahul goes off strike first ball, then Hazlewood pitches it up. Kohli goes for it and nicks to the keeper in a scene that we have seen thousands of time. Australia have bowled well and caught well but the Indian batters are not helping themselves at all by just continuing to drive away at the drop of a hat.

Kohli c Carey b Hazlewood 3 (16)

India 22/3 in 7.2 overs

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Full delivery from Hazlewood, Kohli nicks off a drive and falls.

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Hazlewood continues for his third over in the sixth, starts off with a no ball and the batters run a single. Rahul leaves the next which is full outside off, the secondis on a length outside off which the batters plays to short leg. The third is full outside off again and this time, Rahul nails the cover drive for a four. He inside edges the fourth ball into his own body and then flashes at a full and wide delivery. It flies towards Marsh but this time, it is out of his reach and it goes to the boundary. Rahul leaves the last. He is on 11 off 22, Kohli on two off 10.

India 19/2 in 6 overs

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Well this looks very ugly for India early on. Jaiswal edged off a drive first ball of Starc's last over, Gill fell driving first ball of this over and still the first thing Kohli does is go for a big booming cover drive as Starc goes full outside off second ball of that over. He is beaten. Then he is beaten again as Starc squares him up. Kohli then inside edges the third ball he faces into his own pads and takes a single. Rahul defends the next two balls. India in all kinds of trouble at the moment and they need a mammoth stand from these two. Seems quite unlikely at the moment though, especially in Kohli's case.

India 7/2 in 3 overs

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Wicket No.2 for Mitch Starc and it thanks to his namesake taking an absolute blinder! Australia dangling the carrot by bowling full and India falling for it hook, line and stinker. Jaiswal did go for a big booming drive first ball and edged it to the boundary. Gill does the same this time first ball of the third over, edge and flying to the left of gully. Mitch Marsh is the man there, he dives full stretch, catches the ball while in the air with both hands and holds on when he lands. Brilliant catch but the Indian batters are just walking into the Australian trap here.

Gill c Marsh b Starc 1 (3)

India 6/2 in 2.1 overs

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Josh Hazlewood comes in from the other end with the new ball and he makes Rahul drop his bat and walk away in pain with his very first ball! It was a length ball that spits up from a length and seams in. It hits Rahul flush on his wrists just above the padded part of the gloves. The batter drops his bat immediately and walks off, the physio runs in and Rahul is getting some attention now. It looked quite bad but Rahul does get back to the crease and wears his helmet and gloves. He is good to go.

India 6/1 in 1.1 overs

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: How about it! That is a horrible start for India. Jaiswal sends the first ball between fourth slip and gully for a four. And then he hits it straight into the hands of short midwicket. Now Indian batters have rarely bothered to dig in and put a price on their wicket off late in Test cricket, this much could be really ugly for them if they continue in that fashion. Very soft dismissal for Jaiswal.

Jaiswal c Marsh b Starc 4 (2)

India 4/1 in 0.2 overs

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Yashasvi Jaiswal facing up to Mitch Starc, KL Rahul at the other end. Here we go!

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Some physical comedy seconds before the start of what is going to be a real hard-nosed battle between the two sides. Jaiswal was getting some throw-downs by the boundary and he ends up glancing one right into the Australian huddle. It didn't hit any of the players but it hit their photographer on his heels. Jaiswal apologises but the victim seems fine, he laughs it off.

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: Jaiswal is back near the boundary, this time with KL Rahul for company. In fact he has walked on to the field now. A rope being run around the ground. The Australians have huddled up by the boundary as well, the pacers are done with their warm-ups and are wearing their glares and baggy greens.

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: All right we saw Yashasvi Jaiswal walking out up to the boundary fully kitted up before heading back to the dressing room. The Australian fast bowlers are warming up. No rain any more. India have to score at least 245 runs to avoid the follow-on.

India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 3 Live Score: The covers are being rushed back on to the field. But it is pretty windy and so this shouldn't be a long delay. Well, even before this update is typed out, it has stopped raining.