Nitish Kumar Reddy's father provides unforgettable moment as India's next generation stands tall at MCG

India's youngsters stand tall, and Nitish Kumar Reddy's father provides an unforgettable moment as one of Australia's pacemen begins to show worrying signs of wear and tear.

Here are the quick hits from day three of the fourth Test.

1. India's running between the wickets still needs work

India was left to rue some horrible running late on day two when Virat Kohli burnt Yashasvi Jaiswal and flipped the Test in Australia's favour.

You would have thought running and good calling would have been among the top of coach Gautam Gambhir's talking points overnight.

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However, early on day three, it appeared that bad running between the wickets is contagious in this Indian team.

Rishabh Pant defended a ball barely past the length of the pitch and immediately charged down with the hopes of a quick single.

Pant was sent back by Ravindra Jadeja, who has the strange habit of completely undoing his gloves while not on strike.

He found himself halfway down the pitch when Jadeja sent him back, and he was lucky that a shy at the stumps from Marnus Labuschagne missed.

The two found themselves in another mix-up just moments later, but this time it didn't require a dive from Pant.

It is interesting to note that both mix-ups happened between members of the old guard — Kohli and Jadeja — and members of the new generation — Jaiswal and Pant.

2. Rishabh Pant implodes, Sunil Gavaskar goes nuts

Rishabh Pant has a different role in the Indian team now compared to his last two trips Down Under.

When Pant came out in 2018, he was batting behind the likes of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, all seasoned veterans, all in great form.

It's one thing coming out and bludgeoning tired attacks at number seven, but it's another batting at five.

Pant came out with Jadeja to begin day three with India needing a solid partnership between the pair.

The initial results were good, as both men batted in relatively circumspect fashion.

That was until Pant lost his head.

The left-hander attempted his patented falling scoop shot on the leg side twice against Scott Boland.

The first resulted in him getting hit square in the stomach. The second was a leading edge which was caught by Nathan Lyon at deep third man.

Both deliveries ended up with Pant on the pitch with egg on his face.

Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian captain, lost his mind, yelling, "Stupid, stupid, stupid" as Pant trudged off the MCG to begin one of the all-time great rants on ABC Radio alongside Harsha Bhogle.

3. Washington Sundar survives the most bizarre edge to slip

Just when you think you have seen everything in cricket, something new happens.

As Australia hunted for wickets with the new ball, Washington Sundar was 18 off 58 balls when he was dropped at second slip by Steve Smith.

Not that most realised.

Sundar threw his bat at a wide ball from Mitchell Starc that was travelling well down the leg side.

He was trying to get some bat onto the wide ball and get it to the fine leg boundary.

But Sundar caught the ball on the back of his dangled bat, which then flew like a rocket towards Australia's slips.

Any slip fielder would be forgiven for not expecting a ball down leg to be hit behind the batter and come towards them.

Smith however is always watching, and he nearly pulled off a ridiculous one-handed catch.

It was low and required a dive from Smith, but it hit his right hand hard and fell out.

Credit to Mark Waugh, commentating for Fox, who noticed it was a chance.

It was a moment that surely could not be replicated if you tried 1,000 times, but it was a dropped catch that cost Australia several runs.

4. Starc has back issues as Aussie bowlers toil

Australia started the day hunting quick wickets and taking a big first-innings lead, allowing the bowlers to kick their feet up in the comfort of the MCG rooms.

But Nitish and Sundar made Australia work hard — very hard.

As every over went by, the energy slowly but surely emptied from the Aussie attack.

Then Australia had concerns when Starc started to clutch at his left side during the second session.

Mitchell Starc started clutching at his back in the afternoon session. (AAP: James Ross)

The left-arm quick was struggling with a new ball that didn't swing, then needed attention from the physio during play.

He missed a half-chance at a diving catch at fine leg, looking laboured as he tried to take the wicket.

Starc continued to bowl as India continued to make him bowl, and bowl again.

Looking to the immediate future, Australia will need to rest well if they want to bowl India out in the second-innings for victory.

Looking to the new year and with Josh Hazelwood on the sidelines, Australia's fast bowling attack looks vulnerable heading into one of the most crucial Test matches in recent history.

5. Young guns stand up as Nitish's ton brings his father to tears

A lot of the discussion surrounding India during this tour has been about the lack of form of their senior players, namely Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

They didn't fire in the first innings in Melbourne either, leaving some of India's next generation to do some heavy lifting.

When another of India's old guard — Jadeja — was dismissed for 17, Sundar joined Nitish at the crease with the tourists still trailing by 253 runs.

Sundar and Nitish put on a partnership of 127 runs to keep the tourists well and truly in the Test match with two days to go.

Sundar's half-century vindicated a somewhat risky decision from India's selectors, who dropped Shubman Gill in favour of the spinning all-rounder to bolster India's bowling stocks.

Nitish, who has been one of India's best batters so far on this tour, batted brilliantly once again.

There were incredible scenes as Nitish approached his maiden Test century as cameras found his father sitting in the stands.

Batting on 97 and farming the strike, Nitish tried to get to his milestone with a boundary, but top-edged a lofted cover drive which came extremely close to being caught.

Replays showed his father riding every delivery with him and praying to every god available.

In an added twist, Nitish was in danger of being stranded as Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah fell in quick succession, leaving India's number 11 Mohammed Siraj to negotiate three Pat Cummins deliveries. Despite a play and a miss, Siraj was able to hold up his end of the deal.

In the next over, after what seemed like an eternity in the 90s, Nitish lofted Scott Boland over mid on to reach the three figures, sparking pandemonium in the stands, while his dad was brought to tears.

The biggest Australia-India moments

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