HYDERABAD: Australian captain Michael Clarke stood tall amid the ruins with a classy 91 as India took early control of the second cricket Test with a dominant bowling display on the opening day here on Saturday.

Indian bowlers produced clinical performances in the opening and the final sessions on a Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium track which had variable bounce before Australia surprisingly decided to declare their first innings at 237-9, wanting to have a go at Indian openers for three overs.

At stumps, India were five for no loss with Virender Sehwag and Murali Vijay batting on four and zero respectively as they survived the brief period.

After Bhuvneshwar Kumar ran through the top-order during an incisive first spell, Ravindra Jadeja and Harbhajan Singh wreaked havoc in the post-tea session when Australia lost five wickets for only 28 runs as they slumped to 237-9 from a relatively comfortable 208-4.

Jadeja had the best figures of three for 33 while Kumar grabbed three for 53. Harbhajan chipped in with two for 52.

Clarke continued his rich vein of form as he started from where he had left off during his superb knock in the first Test in Chennai. He missed out on what could have been his 24th Test hundred by just nine runs as he lost his patience with wickets falling at the other end.

He tried a wild sweep against Jadeja was bowled after having faced 186 balls and hit nine fours and a six in the process.

Clarke and wicket-keeper/batsman Matthew Wade (62) added 145 for the fifth wicket to bail Australia out of trouble after Kumar’s opening spell reduced them to 63-4.

Wade, playing with a a fractured cheekbone, played a gutsy knock of 62 off 144 balls with eight boundariesThe duo had their anxious moments but overall they handled the spin troika of Ashwin, Harbhajan and Jadeja with ease to accumulate 104 in the second session.

The only time that Clarke could have been out was when, on 51, he was dropped by Cheteshwar Pujara at short leg off Ashwin.

Just when it looked like Wade and Clarke were taking Australia to a safe total, the former tried a cut shot off Harbhajan only to be caught by Kumar at point.

Neither Moises Henriques (5) nor debutant Glenn Maxwell (13) were able to stay for long as Jadeja dismissed them in quick succession to severely Australian hopes of a sizeable first innings score.

Once he was out, Clarke might have thought it logical to have a go at the out-of-form Indian openers rather than waste time with tailenders at the crease.

Earlier after Clarke had won the toss and chose to bat, Kumar rocked the Australian top-order with a triple strike in his first spell removing openers David Warner and Ed Cowan along with Shane Watson.

After a luckless first Test in Chennai, where the spinners got all the 20 Australian wickets, India’s new ball duo of Ishant Sharma and Kumar gave a much better account of themselves, hitting the right areas consistently.

Kumar bowled a couple of leg-cutters (off-cutter for left-handers) to get rid of Warner (6) and Cowan (4).

The ball which got Warner landed on the seam and cut back enough to take the inside edge of the bat to knock the off-stump. This was Kumar’s maiden Test scalp.

In his very next over, Kumar removed Cowan with a similar delivery. The ball landed on the seam and moved a shade as Cowan was trapped plumb in-front. To make matters worse, the ball kept really low and umpire Marais Erasmus adjudged the batsman leg before.

From 15-2, Phillip Hughes (19) and Watson (23) tried to make amends with a 42-run partnership. Both looked assured with their footwork. Watson, in particular, hit some lovely drives.

Just when it looked like Watson was getting set, he completely misjudged the length of a Kumar delivery and was trapped leg before.

Hughes, under pressure to get a big knock, caved in when Ashwin bowled a typical off-break and the batsman went for a cut-shot. Dhoni fumbled on the first attempt but held on to the catch to reduce Australia to 63-4.—Agencies

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings): D.A. Warner b Kumar    6 E.J.M. Cowan lbw b Kumar    4 P.J. Hughes c Dhoni b Ashwin    19 S.R. Watson lbw b Kumar    23 M.J. Clarke b Jadeja    91 M.S. Wade c Kumar b Harbhajan    62 M.C. Henriques b Jadeja    5 G.J. Maxwell c Dhoni b Jadeja    13 P.M. Siddle lbw b Harbhajan    0 J.L. Pattinson not out    1 X.J. Doherty not out    0 EXTRAS (B-9, LB-4)    13 TOTAL (for nine wkts decl, 85 overs)    237 FALL OF WKTS: 1-10, 2-15, 3-57, 4-63, 5-208, 6-217, 7-233, 8-236, 9-236. BOWLING: Kumar 15-2-53-3; Sharma 17-5-45-0; Ashwin 15-6-41-1; Harbhajan Singh 22-2-52-2; Jadeja 16-4-33-3. INDIA (1st Innings): M. Vijay not out    0 V. Sehwag not out    4 EXTRAS (W-1)    1 TOTAL (for no wkt, 3 overs)    5 TO BAT: C.A. Pujara, S.R. Tendulkar, V. Kohli, M.S. Dhoni, R.A. Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, B. Kumar, I. Sharma. BOWLING (to-date): Pattinson 2-1-1-0 (1w); Siddle 1-0-4-0. UMPIRES: H.D.P.K. Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and M. Erasmus (South Africa). TV UMPIRE: S. Ravi (India). MATCH REFEREE: B.C. Broad (England).