Australia are in need of another steadying knock from skipper Steve Smith, with the hosts 3-174 at tea on day one of the Boxing Day Test.

India controlled Friday’s second session at the MCG, dismissing Chris Rogers and Shane Watson then drying up the runs.

At the end of the 46th over, Smith was on two off 30 balls while Shaun Marsh was five from 27 deliveries.

Smith, who won the toss in his second Test as skipper, progressed to 23 at tea with the game in the balance.

The rise and rise of Smith over the past year has been underlined by fluent strokeplay, fancy footwork, fidgeting at the crease and a lot of runs.

But when Rogers and Watson fell in consecutive overs as Australia slipped from 1-115 to 3-115, Smith reined it in.

In the form of his life after posting centuries in Adelaide and Brisbane, the 25-year-old waited 12 overs before taking his first risk.

It worked, Smith dancing down the wicket to offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin and lashing a boundary over the head of mid-off.

Smith helped himself to an all-run four in Ashwin’s following over.

Part-timer Murali Vijay then replaced the frontline tweaker, as Australia started to swing momentum back their way.

“It seems a bit strange and it’s likely to let Australia off the hook a little bit,” Ian Chappell said of the bowling change.

India did plenty of that on Boxing Day due to some sloppy fielding.

The most glaring was a diving catch that slip Shikhar Dhawan failed to reel in when Watson was on 37.

Dhawan had three bites at the cherry but couldn’t complete the dismissal.

Watson scored 52 before he was trapped lbw by Ashwin while attempting a sweep shot.

Rogers fell for 57 the previous over, feathering an edge to wicketkeeper MS Dhoni off the bowling of Mohammed Shami.

Dhawan held onto a low catch at third slip to dismiss David Warner for a duck in the second over.

Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma made good use of the new ball and Australia’s first run only came in the fourth over.

Even that was a bye – Dhoni fumbling a Yadav bouncer he should have taken cleanly.

Debutant KL Rahul and Shami, both recalled as India seek the victory they need to keep the four-Test series alive, also misfielded in the fourth over.

The errors cost so much more than the four runs added to the scoreboard, relieving the pressure on Rogers and Watson.