Australia’s efforts to push towards a decisive lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series were stymied more by incessant Brisbane rain than their under-fire opponents on day three of the third Test at the Gabba.

The hosts – and supporters – were forced to endure no fewer than eight rain interruptions on a frustrating day that nonetheless saw the Australians tighten their grip on this key contest.

In the 33.1 overs that were played, the home side added 40 to their overnight total to be bowled out for 445, then had the hosts in dire straits at 4-51 before rain halted play for the final time at 5.15pm.

The morning offered a bright start in Brisbane both in terms of sunshine and the on-field action, as wicketkeeper Alex Carey rose his bat for a stroke-laden fifty just before the clock hit 10am, and as plenty of locals were still pouring into this much-maligned-but-much-loved venue.

The skies at that point had shifted from grey to blue, and the rain had cleared, though the threat of more never seemed far away.

Mitchell Starc has hoicked plenty of spinners over midwicket for six in his lengthy Test career and he added another to his tally this morning off Ravindra Jadeja (0-95). Starc then pulled Jasprit Bumrah for four through midwicket but his stay was over soon after when India’s one-man fast-bowling band induced an edge to collect his sixth wicket of the innings.

That took Bumrah to 50 in Australia – just the 18th visiting player to achieve that feat, the second Indian after Kapil Dev, and at a better average and strike-rate than any of them.

Carey maintained his aggressive approach and produced one of the shots of the series when he advanced down the wicket and cover drove Akash Deep on the up, the ball arcing up and over the extra cover boundary and about 20 rows back into the Gabba crowd.

At 10.30 the next rain scud arrived and the players were off for 15 minutes, after which time Nathan Lyon was clean bowled by a jaffa from Mohammad Siraj. When Carey (70) picked out deep midwicket soon after, the Australian innings ended on 445.

More rain meant India’s innings began at 11.30 but when it did get underway, it was immediately action packed, as Yashasvi Jaiswal squirted his first ball through gully for four before being caught at short square leg by Mitchell Marsh from the next. It was another particularly early incision from the in-form Mitchell Starc, and it was the Mitchells who again combined for the wicket of Shubman Gill from the first ball of the third over.

A fuller, wider delivery across the right-handed Gill found a thick edge, which flew to the far end of a packed cordon and into the mitts of Marsh, who held an excellent diving grab before launching into a celebration that seemed to delight his teammates as much as the catch itself.

At the other end, Josh Hazlewood warmed to the task by striking KL Rahul (30no) in the right wrist on a pitch that was just beginning to offer some signs of variable bounce. It was a nasty blow that required medical attention but Rahul soldiered on, and his presence became increasingly more important soon after when Virat Kohli wafted an attempted drive off Hazlewood and feathered an edge through to Alex Carey to leave the visitors reeling at 3-22.

The players scurried off for rain moments later and lunch was taken, beginning a recurring theme that would continue throughout the afternoon. Dotted amid the brief flashes of play were some delightful cover drives from Rahul, who stood tall as India’s best performed batter.

In a six-minute slice of action between showers, Pat Cummins made his presence felt with the key wicket of Rishabh Pant (9), the right-armer adjusting his line and length beautifully for the left-hander and promptly drawing the edge.

Just like that India were 4-44, and after Rohit Sharma walked slowly to the middle and faced one ball, the rain arrived once again, this time halting play for around two-and-a-half hours.

The action thereafter was restricted to another 17 balls, and when bad light and rain finally curtailed play for the day, Rahul (33no) and his captain Rohit (0no) were the not out batters, who will resume tomorrow with an enormous task in front of them.

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal