Sydney, Jan 7 (IANS): Australia lost returning opener David Warner early before rain curtailed play in the first session of the third Test here at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.

The left-handed Warner, who is coming back from groin injury after having missed the first two Tests, was caught in slips by Cheteshwar Pujara off the bowling of pace bowler Mohammed Siraj in the fourth over.

Australia went to lunch at 21/1 with only 7.1 overs possible. Debutant Will Pucovski was batting on 14 and Marnus Labuschagne was on two.

Australia, who won the toss and elected to bat, had made two changes to their side. Warner and Pucovski replaced Joe Burns and Travis Head.

For India, Rohit Sharma replaced Mayank Agarwal in the opening batting slot while Navdeep Saini made his Test debut, replacing the injured Umesh Yadav.

Rohit is playing his first Test in over a year.

The series is level at 1-1 after two Tests.

Playing XIs

India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini.

Australia: David Warner, Will Pucovski, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (wicketkeeper/captain), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood