Australia picked up two wickets in the opening session Saturday to remain in control and leave India wobbling at 244-7 on day three of the fourth test of the five-match series.
At lunch Saturday, India trailed Australia by 230 runs on the first innings.
Resuming on 164-5, India looked to Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant to show some aggression against Australia’s bowlers.
Pant scored an entertaining 28 but took one too many risks. The left-hander was caught on the boundary at 191-6 after top-edging an attempted scoop shot off the bowling of Scott Boland (3-37).
Jadeja (17) was lbw to spinner Nathan Lyon at 221-7 with 30 minutes remaining before lunch.
Nitish Kumar Reddy scored an unbeaten 40, including three fours and one six, while Washington Sundar was five not out.
Australia was dismissed for 474 after lunch on Friday’s second day of play.
The formidable total included Steve Smith’s 34th century. Smith’s 140 lifted the 35-year-old to equal-seventh most hundreds in test cricket.
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Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (4-99) claimed four victims to increase his tally for the series to 25 wickets at an average of 13.12.
India reached 153-2 Friday but lost three wickets for six runs in a dramatic collapse. Opener Yashavi Jaiswal (82) and ex-skipper Virat Kohli (36) steadied India’s innings with a 102-run partnership.
Jaiswal charged off for a risky single, realizing too late that Kohli had turned his back, leaving Jaiswal stranded alongside Kohli at the non-striker’s end.
Boland struck in successive overs to remove Kohli caught behind and Akash Deep (0) caught at leg gully as Australia completely dominated the closing 25 minutes of day two.
Kohli has endured a challenging time in the fourth test so far, including the mix-up with Jaiswal and a physical clash with Australia’s 19-year-old debutant Sam Konstas.
Match referee Andy Pycroft fined Kohli 20% of his match fee for making “inappropriate physical contact” after he bumped shoulders with Konstas at the end of the 10th over of the match.
Kohli was booed as he left the field of play Friday, stopping at one stage to walk back and stare down a fan.
The five-match series is level at 1-1 after a rainy draw at Brisbane, The fifth and final test is scheduled to start on Jan. 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.