3rd Test: Kohli falls after tea, India four-down against Australia

Kohli struck another gritty half-century to remain unbeaten on 54 off 98 balls with seven fours and added 85 runs for the fourth wicket with Rahane (33 batting) after India were left struggling at 19 for three losing Shikhar Dhawan (0), Murali Vijay (11) and KL Rahul (1).

Earlier, Australia declared their second innings at 318 for 9 at lunch, taking a 383-run lead, thanks to Shaun Marsh's 99 off 215 balls with 11 fours and two sixes.

When India started their second innings, Dhawan was out leg before in the second over to Ryan Harris. In his second Test innings then, debutant KL Rahul (1) was promoted to number three as a strategic decision, with the Indian team management denying any injury to Cheteshwar Pujara.

Much like in the first innings, Rahul played a poor shot to get out, this time pulling a wide rising delivery from Mitchell Johnson (1-24) as Shane Watson (0-10) ran back from first slip to complete the catch.

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3rd Test, Day 4: Australia 261/7 againt India at stumps, lead by 326 runs

Leading 2-0, Australia need only draw the Melbourne match to wrap up the four-match series and India face a Herculean task to keep the contest alive for the final test in Sydney next week.

The highest successful fourth innings chase at the MCG was achieved by England in 1928-29, when they compiled 332 for victory.

Though India's batsmen have proved the equal of Australia's bowlers for much of the series, the flat MCG wicket began to show signs of uneven bounce late in the day and the hosts laboured to 261-7 at the close.

Perhaps mindful of India's first innings 465 completed earlier in the morning, Australia opening batsman David Warner said his team would seek more runs on the final day's play, which will have an extra six overs to compensate for a one-hour rain delay after lunch.

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3rd Test, Day 4: Shami scalps Jhonson, Australia seven-down

Shaun Marsh (15) and Joe Burns (eight) were at the crease when the second session ended, whose commencement was delayed for an hour and 25 minutes by rain.

Australia were 90 for one at lunch, with an overall lead of 155 and were seemingly in control but India dismissed Shane Watson (17), in-form skipper Steven Smith (14) and the well-set opener Chris Rogers (69) in the delayed post-lunch session to check Australia's charge.

Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets to play a leading role in halting Australia's march.

The visitors would have had all the more reason to be happy had they hung to a chance given by the Rogers right after the resumption of play.

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3rd Test, Day 3: Kohli falls, India 462/8 against Australia at stumps

Resuming the day on 108 for one in response to the hosts' first innings score of 530, India lost their overnight batsmen early but Kohli (169), registering his third ton in this series, and Rahane (147) made sure that their stand is the highest for India in Australia at the MCG for any wicket.

The visitors ended the day on 462 for eight as they still trail by 68 runs at the end of Day 3. Aided by five dropped catches, India responded well only to lose a bit of a momentum in the end as new-ball bowler Ryan Harris returned with figures of 4-69.

Pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson (1-133), who bled runs through the day, also got Kohli caught behind to get a consolation wicket as umpires called stumps.

Getting into heated exchanges with Johnson at different stages of his innings, Kohli was dropped on 88 by Shane Watson (1-65) at first slip in the 85th over and made full use of the spill.

Kohli, recording his ninth Test ton, mixed the right dose of caution and aggression in his 272-ball stay, his innings laced with 18 boundaries.

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Hughes death will affect Aussie attack against India: Ian Chappell

"It's only natural for a bowler to be hesitant when unleashing a short-pitched delivery with the ghastly reminder of the consequences of bad luck still fresh in the memory.

This hesitancy will affect the Australian fast bowlers more than the Indian attack," Chappell said.

"The bouncer was expected to be a prime weapon of an Australian attack better equipped to dish out intimidating deliveries. With no bowler wanting to hit a batsman in these circumstances, this will have a greater effect on the Australian attack," he said.

Chappell said the players will have to nonetheless get on with the job. The series has already seen some rescheduling due to the tragedy with the first Test -- originally planned from December 4 -- postponed to allow the grieving players to attend Hughes' funeral on December 3.

"The cricket at the Gabba won't be played with the usual intensity but it will probably be the best therapy for all the players. The bouncers won't stop. They will still be unleashed to put some doubt in the batsman's mind. However, I doubt they will be delivered with the same venom in the immediate aftermath of the SCG calamity," Chappell said.

Meanwhile, former Australian pacer Geoff Lawson said he is not in favour of the bouncers being banned altogether, insisting that the focus should be on providing adequate security gear to batsmen.

"I vaguely went through some numbers in my mind for how many games of cricket are played every Saturday around Australia and I had a random figure of 10,000," Lawson, who was at the Sydney Cricket Ground when the tragedy occurred, was quoted saying by 'Sydney Morning Herald'.

"There's about a million balls, maybe more, bowled every Saturday in Australia, there might be 50,000 bouncers bowled every Saturday in Australia. You do the numbers and the one that caused the death...and it is so terrible...you don't want a knee-jerk reaction and make rules for exceptions," he said.

Chappell echoed the sentiment and said Hughes was terribly unlucky to have lost his life after being hit at the back of his head during a domestic game earlier this week.

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