At Stumps on Day 3, the visitors are struggling at 51/4 with right-hand batter KL Rahul (33*) and team skipper Rohit Sharma (0*) unbeaten at the crease.
Jasprit Bumrah revealed that Mohammed Siraj has been bowling with a niggle and praised him for fighting through pain.
It was a frustrating day for the loyal crowd of 16,180 but perhaps more so for the home team, whose chances of forcing a result were progressively eroded.
Will Rohit Sharma get one final opportunity to salvage his Test career?
The pacer, who was on the road to recovery from an ankle injury, has suffered a flare-up in his right knee, potentially delaying his return to competitive cricket.
Those three wickets for six runs, in a manic final 15 minutes of the day's play, undid all the good work that had gone before, asserts Prem Panicker.
India will be under tremendous pressure when they face an equally circumspect Australia in a battle of two out-of-form batting units in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth
Images from Day 4 of the fourth Test between Australia and India at the MCG on Sunday.
India are aiming for a quick turnaround in the second Test, starting in Pune on Thursday.
India will look for the right balance as they aim for a series-levelling victory against a spunky New Zealand in the must-win second Test.
Mohammed Shami will make his long-awaited comeback to competitive cricket in the Ranji Trophy.
Pujara could get the selectors' nod if Ajit Agarkar and his team decide to fall back on his experience.
India beat Bangladesh by seven wickets in the rain-truncated second Test in Kanpur to complete a 2-0 series sweep on Tuesday.
Images from Day 2 of the fourth Test between Australia and India at the MCG on Friday.
Virat Kohli booed by home fans after bumping shoulders with Konstas on the pitch after the 19-year-old smashed India's bowlers around the park early on.
Gautam Gambhir has already been asked a few tough questions after the 0-3 defeat at home to New Zealand and if the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is also lost, it can all go downhill for the former opener.
The cupboard is bare and it will take some time to prepare another cracking line-up that can match the aura of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma.
As many as four world-class match-winners are expected to bid adieu to the game one by one in the next couple of years and Gautam Gambhir is in an unenviable position as head coach.
The Indian team in Australia lacks a bowling attack that is good enough to take 20 wickets in a Test, Cheteshwar Pujara said
Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has called for an improved performance from India's batting unit in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, saying the lack of runs from the top-order builds pressure on the lower-order.
Also the temperament of playing 373 balls (62.1 overs out of 116 overs) has made him stand out along with how he forged partnership with a tailender (Navdeep Saini).
The national selectors on Sunday retained the Indian team, which hammered Bangladesh by 280 runs in the opening Test here, for the second and final match in Kanpur.
India has only minor concerns, but New Zealand's troubles across batting and bowling departments are more pronounced.
Despite the challenging build-up, Gambhir said he is "extremely confident" of retaining the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The players will hope to be as confident as they prepare for the fight to keep their World Test Final chances alive.
Images from Day 1 of the fourth Test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
The pace trio of Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini did the damage with the ball as India B outclassed India A by 76 runs in the Duleep Trophy.
Rishabh Pant last played a Test match in December 2022 before a serious car crash saw him sidelined for nearly two years.
Rishabh Pant's fifty, Sarfaraz Khan's aggression give India B control on Day 3 of the Duleep Trophy in Bengaluru on Saturday
The Duleep Trophy is set to return to its traditional zonal from next year after the state units gave a thumbs down to the four-team concept introduced this season.
How the India Test regulars and discards fared over the first two days in the opening round matches of Duleep Trophy.
Musheer Khan, younger brother of Sarfaraz Khan (9), saved his side from a total collapse with an innings of rare maturity that belied his 19 tender years.
The win also helped the hosts take an unassailable 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
The likes of Yashaswi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna are on their maiden Test tour of Australia.
India would want their big guns Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to fire when the mighty hosts aim for a clean sweep against a beleaguered Bangladesh in the second and final Test starting in Kanpur on Friday.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI for the first Test against New Zealand?
Ashwin has had the opportunity to play under the wing of both stars. He pointed out that there isn't a huge gap between Gambhir and Dravid's approach or the passion that the duo shares for Indian cricket.
Australia head coach Andrew McDonald believes the absence of Mohammed Shami during the marquee Border Gavaskar Trophy next month is a huge loss for India.
The Indian batters' inability to grind it out against a relentless Australian pace attack in testing conditions left the team precariously placed at 51/4 at the end of a rain-marred day three.
India skipper Rohit Sharma admitted he was 'hurting' after his team crashed to its lowest-ever total of 46 at home
Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been included in the Test squad for the upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh.
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