India’s top order batting woes continued to haunt them as the visitors witnessed another batting collapse that left them reeling at 51 for 4, 394 runs adrift of Australia at stumps, on what had been a stop-start day of Test cricket, featuring as many as eight stoppages for rain at the Gabba on Monday.

Only 33.1 overs were possible on the third day of the Brisbane Test, with Australia first stretching their first-innings total to 445 on the morning before Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins ripped out India’s top order over the remainder of the day’s play, in between squalls.

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The weather could well play spoilsport, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting up to 30mm of rain on day four and up to 25mm more on day five. With predictions of more rainfall on the final two days, India’s first target when the Test match resumes will be to get to 246 to avoid the follow-on, and the job will be entrusted on the overnight pair of KL Rahul (33 not out) and skipper Rohit Sharma, yet to open his account.

Earlier, resuming at 405 for 7, Australia’s last three wickets added another 40 runs in the midst of brief spells of rain either side of the 17.1 overs they took to do so as well as one in between, after Jasprit Bumrah removed Pat Cummins to pick up his sixth wicket of the innings and his 50th in Tests in Australia.

Wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey, who had raced to 45 on the second evening to keep Australia’s advantage intact after a three-wicket burst from Bumrah, brought up his half-century and played some audacious strokes – including an effortless six over wide long-off off Akash Deep – before he was last out for 70. He was out to Akash Deep, who finally got a wicket after toiling for almost 30 overs.

In response, India’s top order failed to negotiate the seam movement and bounce that the tall Aussie quicks managed to extract from the Gabba wicket, with Hazlewood striking KL Rahul’s wrist with his first ball of the match. By that time, Starc had already struck with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who fell second ball attempting to flick uppishly and landed straight on Mitchell Marsh at square leg. Starc struck again in his second over, slanting a fuller delivery away from Shubman Gill and inducing a drive away from the body with Marsh completing the catch with a spectacular dive to his left.

The trend continued when Virat Kohli drove loosely at a wide one from Hazlewood and edged behind, before a rain interruption forced early lunch. After the break, there was another interruption 11 balls after resumption. Skipper Pat Cummins then joined the party by claiming Rishabh Pant, who succumbed to his tendency of aiming down the ground while defending balls angled across him, and instead edged behind.

All this while, Rahul, who was retained as the opener for the third consecutive Test, patiently witnessed the onslaught from the Aussie pace trio from the other end. The right-hander held one end firm and cautiously negotiated the hostile bowling conditions, picking up three boundaries through the covers on his way to 33 off 64 balls at stumps.