To achieve that first objective, they will need Ravindra Jadeja (65*) to do a lot of heavy lifting alongside the three fast bowlers. Jadeja, playing his first Test series of the series, was largely untroubled by the softer Kookaburra ball and stitched stands of 67 and 53 with KL Rahul and Nitish Reddy respectively. After a delayed start to the post-lunch session, he got to his half-century with a sweetly timed on-drive for four and another boundary that was gifted to him when the ball had only brushed his thigh pad on the way to the fine-leg fence.

After 2.5 overs of play, the players were forced off the field by rain for a good part of 67 minutes. When play resumed, the pair of Jadeja and Reddy calmly negotiated a Mitchell Starc spell before Cummins returned and struck in his first over back by drawing an uncertain poke and an inside edge onto Reddy stumps. Mohammed Siraj survived a few nervy moments before another spell of rain forced umpire to call for Tea.

Earlier in the morning session that saw 32 overs of play, India added 116 runs at 3.74 runs to the over thanks largely to a 67-run stand for the sixth wicket between Rahul and Jadeja. The former was a beneficiary of a drop catch by Smith off the very first ball of the day play and worked himself to a largely fluent 84 before being undone by a moment of fielding brilliance from the very fielder that reprieved him on 33.

India lost overnight batter Rohit Sharma in Cummins probing opening burst of five overs. The Australia captain eventually played with Rohit weight transfers by bowling a sharp, short ball before a follow-up full delivery, which as it turned out was not full enough for the drive. Sensing a rare scoring opportunity, Rohit reached for it and feathered an edge to the keeper.

Barring the one misstep to start, there were no such mistakes from Rahul, who continued to get into good decision after getting into good positions with his technique. He picked only the really full deliveries for his shots as well as favouring the square drive to the more expansive variant towards extra cover. He waited for the bowlers to bowl straighter to him, which he then flicked, tucked away or on-drove. As has been the case in Australia this summer, the batting pair of Rahul and Jadeja found the going easier once the Kookaburra ball was more than 30-overs-old. With an assured Jadeja for company, Rahul passed 50 and moved serenely towards a three-figure score before an attempted cut shot off Lyon found the flying Smith to end a promising 67-run association.