India vs Australia Live Score 3rd Test Day 1: Rain arrives after Siraj strikes to remove Warner

Hello and welcome to Sportstar's LIVE Coverage of Day one of the third Test between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

INDIA VS AUSTRALIA THIRD TEST - SCORECARD

It has started raining again! The covers are coming off and play should begin anytime. Will be interesting to see how the batsmen will react to this little break. Indian bowlers would expect some spice from a good batting surface and a wicket here would make it India's session. 

Australia 21/1 after 7.1 overs: Rain Halts Play - The players walk off and as expected it is presently drizzling and India will be happy with the first 40 minutes of play. Labuschagne and Pucovski are trying to forge a stand with both batsmen targetting the leg side to keep the scorecard ticking. For now, the rain has picked up.  

Australia 8/1 after 4 overs: WICKET - Huge one for India and Siraj with the breakthrough as Warner departs. It was an away going delivery, Warner goes for the drive, gets a thick outside edge and Pujara at second slip takes an excellent catch. Top start from the Indians. Marnus Labuschagne joins Pucovski.

Australia 5/0 after 2 overs: Warner and Pucovski are off the mark and Mohammed Siraj has strayed down the leg a bit and is yet to find his rhythm. Warner, meanwhile has shown a lot of intent and is very keen to rotate the strike.

Australia 0/0 after 1 over: Jasprit Bumrah starts with a maiden over and tests debutant Will Pucovski with a short ball and the batsman goes for a tentative hook but misses the ball.

Alright then we are done with the National Anthems and it will be Will Pucovski along with David Warner who will open the batting for Australia. For India it will be Jasprit Bumrah with the new ball. Three slips, a gully and a short leg in place. Here we go

Toss: Australia has won the toss and opted to bat first

Playing XI:

India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini

Australia: David Warner, Will Pucovski, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (C/WK), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India vs Australia: McGrath lauds India's bowling strategy for Smith

While Navdeep Saini will be making his debut for India, Will Pucovski has received his Baggy Green.

Preview

Having touched nadir and zenith in a span of 10 days, Ajinkya Rahane's India will look to start afresh against Australia with the big-hitting Rohit Sharma's presence adding a new dimension to what promises to be an enthralling third Test starting here on Thursday.

The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), despite being witness to some extraordinary batting performances from the touring Indian sides over the years, has not exactly been a happy hunting ground with six defeats. The lone win came a good 42 years back.

READ| IND vs AUS: Jadeja has improved a lot as a batsman, says Rahane

The importance of Rohit

And in this backdrop, there will be the entry of Rohit Sharma. He missed the initial part of the tour due to a hamstring injury during the Indian Premier League.

The white-ball legend has learnt the art of being unfazed, which was evident from his intense net session on Tuesday when he was comfortably facing the first team bowlers like Ravichandran Ashwin.

Sydney Test: Australia will have plans set for world-class Rohit, says Lyon  

His presence has added spring in the strides of the team and the youngsters in this current set-up swear by him, the reason he replaced Cheteshwar Pujara as vice-captain after just one Test.

READ| AUS vs IND: Masks mandatory for fans at Sydney Test

The Sydney track has traditionally favoured the batsmen as Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Sachin Tendulkar and even Pujara and Rishabh Pant, who got centuries here during the last tour, will vouch for.

Squads:

Australia: David Warner, Matthew Wade, Will Pucovski, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (captain and wk), Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazzlewood, Marcus Harris, Mitchell Swepson, Michael Neser

India (XI): Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini.

Match Starts at 5 am.