Debutant left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav's three wickets put Australia on the backfoot, even as skipper Steve Smith's 20th Test ton helped the visitors reach 208/6 at tea on the opening day of the fourth and final cricket Test here on Saturday.
At tea, wicketkeeper Matthew Wade (13 not out) was at the crease with Pat Cummins, who is still to open his account.
Kuldeep (3/41) strangled the Kangaroos line-up getting the vital wicket of opener David Warner (56) just after the lunch break, to end the southpaw's 134-run second wicket stand with Smith (111). Soon after, the chinaman got rid of Peter Handscomb and Glenn Maxwell for identical scores of eight, as Smith held one end tight before bringing up his third century of the series in 150 balls.
Just at the stroke of tea, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin provided India the biggest breakthrough, when he had Smith caught at slips by skipper Ajinkya Rahane.
Brief Scores: Australia 208/6 (Steve Smith 111, David Warner 56, Kuldeep Yadav 3/41, Umesh Yadav 2/54) vs India.
--IANS
tri/bg
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