The opening day of the third Test between India and Australia in Mohali has been called off due to rain.

It has been raining steadily since early morning forcing the umpires to suspend play on day one.

The covers have been in place since last night and a lot of water has accumulated on the surface as the groundstaff worked hard to get the ground ready when the rain stopped briefly but it started raining again at 1130 thwarting any chances of play on day one.

Play will start early on Day 2 at 0900 hours IST as the umpires will look to make up for the time lost.

India lead the four-match series 2-0.

The light drizzle has proved to be a spoiler in Mohali. The umpires cancelled their inspection schedule at 1200 hours and the groundstaff have also suspended their work for now.

It has got very dark and it looks likely that it could rain heavily any moment.

So the chances of having play on day one are getting bleak with every passing minute. We will keep you updated as soon as we get any further updates.

Meanwhile you can relive VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid's magical partnership at the Eden Gardens in 2001....(click to read)

More bad news from Mohali as it starts to rain again which will cause further delay and hamper chances if any of having play on day one of the third Test match.

It will also affect the work of the groundstaff who have been working relentlessly for the last three hours to get the ground ready for play.

From the archives: "This day 12 years ago VVS and Dravid did the unbelievable! The two greats were involved in a record partnership of 376 runs at Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2001."

Umpires Aleem Dar and Richard Kettleborough conducted a second inspection of the ground at 11am and decided to inspect the conditions again an hour later.

Lunch will be taken at 1130am which means the first session has been washed out.

It is again getting dark with a lot of grey clouds hovering above the PCA stadium in Mohali.

Both the Indian and Australian teams are back at the ground again but will be left frustrated by the scenes at the ground currently.

Apparently the groundstaff is still working out in the middle but it is a taking a lot of time to get the water off the covers with the groundstaff doing it manually.

The groundstaff continue with their hectic activity out in the middle as they try to clear the water off the covers. A lot of water has collected on the covers and the groundstaff will clear that first before they look to take off the covers.

The sun is also trying to break out through the huge cloud cover that is threatening to burst out anytime. No chances of play anytime soon. Stay tuned for further updates.

Some statistics ahead of the start of the third Test in Mohali courtesy of statistician HR Gopala Krishna.

- Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Mahela Jayawardene share the record for most Test hundreds on home soil. All the four batsmen have scored 22 hundreds. One more hundred for SR Tendulkar would give him his 23rd hundred and with it the record for most hundreds on home soil.

- Sachin Tendulkar has scored eleven hundreds against Australia. Two more hundreds would make him to own the record for most hundreds against Australia. JB Hobbs has scored twelve hundreds.

- Harbhajan Singh has an aggregate of 95 wickets against Australia prior to the start of the third Test in Mohali. The off-spinner needs five more wickets for his 100 wickets. If he gets them, he would then become the 36th bowler in the annals of Test cricket to capture 100 plus wickets against a specific opposition.

- India captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has effected 47 dismissals against Australia prior to the start of this test. He needs three more dismissals for his 50 dismissals. If he effects them, he would then become the first Indian wicket keeper to effect 50 plus dismissals against Australia

- Australia captain Michael Clarke has an aggregate of 954 runs against India in India prior to the start of the test. He needs 46 more runs for his 1000 runs. If he gets them, he would then become the second Australian batsman to total 1000 plus runs against India in India after ML Hayden who has an aggregate of 1027 runs

The official word is that the next inspection by the umpires is at 11am.

Umpires Aleem Dar and Richard Kettleborough did an inspection of the ground at 09430 am and said that the groundstaff will need a couple of hours atleast to get the ground ready.

We have some pictures sent us from the ground which shows the covers are still in place and the groundstaff busy in drying the ground.

It has stopped for raining since the last 15-20 minutes but it is quite overcast and windy out in the middle.

The groundstaff have already begun work on the getting the water off from the outfield from the edge of the covers.

Michael Clarke has decided to lead from the front with the bat. He will come in at No. 3 in the batting order with Phil Hughes moving down to number four.

Hughes has been a big disappointment in this series, scoring just 25 runs and has struggled against the spinners.

Clarke has been Australia's best batsman in the series and has scored the only century for the visitors in the first two Tests for a tally of 268 runs in four innings.

Meanwhile, our sources in Mohali are saying that both the Indian and Australian teams have already left the stadium. They stayed briefly at the stadium before inspected the conditions and retreating back to the comfort of their hotel rooms.

The groundstaff is already on the job with as many as three Super Soppers working on the outfield to remove the water that has spilled on to the outfield from the covers.

It is quite dark at the moment in Mohali and as things stand right now we don't expect the match begin atleast for the next couple of hours.

Meanwhile, Australia are keen to get started and have already announced their playing eleven for the match.

They have made three changes to their team from the previous Test with Nathan Lyon replacing fellow off-spinner Glenn Maxwell, while Steven Smith comes in for Shane Watson, who was axed from this match and then went back to Australia for the birth of his child.

Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin comes in for Matthew Wade, who failed to recover from his injury.

India are set to hand Shikhar Dhawan his Test debut and he will replace Virender Sehwag, who was dropped after the second Test in Hyderabad.

Overnight rain has delayed the start of the third Test between India and Australia in Mohali, on Thursday.

Most of the ground is under covers but some of the water has spilled on to the outfield near the boundary lines.

The toss was scheduled to take place at 0900 hours IST and the match was set to begin 30 minutes later. But it looks unlikely we might have any play in the first session atleast.