India crawl to 326 for seven at tea on Day 3, still trail in Melbourne Test

India`s Nitish Kumar Reddy (R) plays a reverse sweep as Australia`s wicketkeeper Alex Carey (L) watches on the third day of the fourth Test (Pic: AFP)

Young Nitish Kumar Reddy was going strong on an unbeaten 85 to keep India in the contest against Australia on the third day of the fourth Test on Saturday.

Thanks to Reddy's 119-ball knock and Washington Sundar's unbeaten 40, India reached 326 for seven when bad light and a drizzle forced the umpires to take tea before the scheduled time at the MCG.

This was after India lost the overnight pair of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja before reaching 244 for seven at lunch.

India, who started the day on 164 for five and 310 runs in arrears, were helped by the unbroken 105-run eight-wicket partnership between Reddy and Washington.

Earlier in the day, Pant made 28 before giving away his wicket to Scott Boland, while Jadeja was trapped lbw for 17.

Brief scores:

Australia 1st innings: 474

India 1st innings: 326 for seven in 97 overs (Nitish Reddy batting 85, Yashasvi Jasiwal 82, Washington Sundar batting 40; Scott Boland 3/49)