India skipper Virat Kohli will undergo scans on his injured shoulder after leaving the field in the afternoon session of the opening day's play in the third Test against Australia Thursday.

"The exact status of Virat's injury will be known by tomorrow morning. He is going to undergo scans later today," India's fielding coach Ramakrishnan Sridhar told reporters in Ranchi.

Kohli hurt his right shoulder while fielding and went off the field in the 40th over, leaving vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane to lead the side for the rest of the day.

Kohli fell awkwardly while trying to cut off a boundary at long-on and instantly walked away while clutching his shoulder. He was seen putting on ice packs in the dressing room.

"We took a precaution (in taking him off the field) to make sure that he doesn't aggravate the injury," Sridhar said.

"It was quite an intense chase to the boundary line. In his intent to save that one run, he stopped the ball but landed on his right shoulder when he rolled over.

"The impact was quite heavy because of the momentum he was carrying and there was a shock on his right shoulder," he added.

Australia piled on the runs in Kohli's absence to end the day on 299 for four with skipper Steve Smith (117) and Glenn Maxwell (82) at the crease.

The batting duo put on an unbeaten 159-run stand for the fifth wicket with Rahane rotating his bowling options without any success. No Australian wicket fell after Kohli left the field.

Kohli has already been off the ground for over three hours and will have to take the field for an equal amount of time before he is able to bat at his usual number four position.