Australia's batsmen have had a rare positive day in their series against India, with debutant Will Pucovski and Marnus Labuschagne leading the way on a rain-shortened first day at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
With a top score of 200 in the first four innings of the series, Australia's top order finally turned up in the third Test, with Pucovski getting a half-century in his first outing, while Labuschagne rediscovered something resembling his form from last summer to lead Australia to 2-166 at stumps.
The 100-run partnership between Pucovski (62) and Labuschagne (67 not out) — Australia's first for the summer — was a welcome sight for the hosts, after David Warner's much-hyped return from injury underwhelmed.
The veteran opener was at the crease for less than four overs but that was long enough to see he was hobbled by the groin injury that kept him out of the first two Tests.
Shortly after his wild slash outside off sailed into the hands of Cheteshwar Pujara, rain settled in over the ground and hung around for hours, taking away more than a third of the day's play.
When play finally did get back underway, Pucovski looked assured on debut, although he was gifted extra lives by two bad drops from wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
Eventually he made his way past 50 and finally fell on 62 when fellow first-gamer Navdeep Saini trapped him LBW in the 35th over.
Not long after that Labuschagne reached his first half-century of the summer as he and Steve Smith counter-attacked with a level of confidence that will be concerning for India's bowlers with two Tests remaining in the series.
They made their way through to stumps and will return to the crease half an hour early, at 10:00am AEDT, for the next three days due to the time lost to the weather on day one.
Look back at how the day's play unfolded in our live blog.
