Indian bowlers dominated the proceedings by reducing Australia for 89/4 at lunch on Day 3 of the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here on Friday.
Travis Head was unbeaten on 18 after losing Shaun Marsh (18) just at the stroke of lunch.
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah claimed two wickets, while fellow quick Ishant Sharma and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja picked up a wicket each as Australia found the going tough on a pitch that assisted batting.
Resuming the day at 8/0, Australia openers Marcus Harris (22) and Aaron Finch (8) could add only 16 runs before Ishant struck to dismiss Finch caught by debutant Mayank Agarwal.
Bumrah then joined the party by getting get rid of the other opener Harris three overs later while Jadeja, who replaced Umesh Yadav in the Melbourne Test, dismissed Usman Khawaja (21) to keep India on the top in first 20 overs.
Bumrah then came back to trap Shaun Marsh to leave Australia reeling at 89/4, and trail India's first innings total of 443/7 by 354 runs at lunch.
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Earlier on the second day, India's mammoth total was powered by a classic century by Cheteshwar Pujara (106) and valuable contributions from skipper Virat Kohli (82), opener Mayank Agarwal (76) and Rohit Sharma (63 not out).
In reply, the Ausssie openers came out to bat six overs and went back undefeated with the team on 8/0 at stumps.
Brief Scores: India 443/7 (Cheteshwar Pujara 106, Virat Kohli 82, Mayank Agarwal 76, Rohit Sharma 63 not out; Pat Cummins 3/72) vs Australia 89/4 (Marcus Harris 22, Usman Khawaja 21; Jasprit Bumrah 2/28) at lunch on Day 3.
--IANS
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