Australia fought back with three wickets in the opening session of day four of the third cricket Test against India on Sunday.
India are still in a commanding position at 3-384 at lunch and trail Australia by just 24 runs on the first innings with seven wickets in hand.
Opener Murali Vijay is unbeaten on 142 while the 39-year-old Mumbai master Sachin Tendulkar was out caught at bat-pad to the bowling of occasional legspinner Steve Smith for 37 on the last ball before lunch.
Seemingly drained of hope after India had reached 0-283 on day three, Australia hit back on Sunday with two early wickets.
Offspinner Nathan Lyon struck to remove Shikhar Dhawan for 187 in the second over of the day.
Lyon drew the left-hander forward as Dhawan presented a catch to Ed Cowan at silly mid-off.
Three overs later, India’s double-century maker from the second Test Cheteshwar Pujara was out for a duck, lbw to paceman Peter Siddle.
Pujara was furious at the decision and replays showed the right-hander had edged the ball onto his pad, a fact missed by umpire Aleem Dar.
However, India’s reluctance to join the modern age and adopt the Decision Review System (DRS) once again caught them out.
Pujara stood at the crease for several seconds in disbelief and should be fined for dissent by Sri Lankan match referee Ranjan Madugalle but this is unlikely to happen.
The Delhi-born Dhawan – whose wife Ayesha Mukhurjee and their two children live in Melbourne – produced the sixth-highest score by a player on his Test debut and the highest by an Indian.
Australia’s bowlers were at least able to bowl reasonably tightly in the two-and-a-half-hour session which yielded 101 runs for the home side in sunny conditions on a flat batting track.
India lead the four-match series two-nil and could be in a position to push for outright victory over the next five sessions. Even a draw for India would allow MS Dhoni’s side to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.