Australia was on the verge of consecutive innings victories after another lamentable batting display left India deep in the mire heading into day three of the third Test in Perth.
The tourists limped to 4 for 88 at stumps, still 120 runs from making Australia bat again with Rahul Dravid (32 not out) and Virat Kohli (21 not out) at the crease.
Australia had a 214-run opening stand between David Warner (180) and Ed Cowan (74) to thank for its first innings total of 369 as the middle order collapsed.
But as has been the case this series, India failed to capitalise with Gautam Gambhir (14), Virender Sehwag (10), Sachin Tendulkar (8) and VVS Laxman (0) all perishing cheaply.
Rookie Mitchell Starc stepped up to the plate in his third Test with 2 for 14, including the key scalp of Tendulkar who was livid to be given out lbw when he thought it was going down leg side.
Starc, who had just a New South Wales second XI match and some hit and giggle on his WACA resume heading into this clash, said the wicket was now providing plenty of assistance for the pacemen.
"Day one there was a bit of signs of cracking, obviously a lot of grass on there and a bit of assistance with the extra bounce there for us," he told Grandstand.
"Now there are a lot more cracks and they're getting wider.
"I think both sides have found a few cracks in the last two innings, hopefully we can use them to our advantage tomorrow morning especially and get a few more wickets early and get stuck into the tail."
Laxman's horror tour was extended by the born-again Ben Hilfenhaus (1 for 25), who had the Indian veteran snicking to Shaun Marsh at third slip.
Peter Siddle (1 for 21) was the other wicket-taker, brilliantly bringing about the downfall of Sehwag who was never allowed to get away by a relentless Australian pace barrage.
Warner earlier continued his pyrotechnics from day one, albeit it at a slightly reduced rate.
He was put down by Kohli at slip on 126 and went on to fall 20 runs short of a double-ton which was there for the taking.
Warner faced only 159 deliveries and hit 20 fours and five towering sixes, including the one which brought up his second century in five Tests yesterday.
Opening partner Cowan was the perfect foil with a well-paced 74 from 120 balls, although he was bitterly disappointed not to go on and get to triple figures for the first time in his short Test career.
From there it fell away markedly for Australia with only Peter Siddle's 30 off 31 balls standing out on a poor middle-lower order batting effort.
Umesh Yadav did the bulk of the damage, picking up his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket to finish with 5 for 93.
Zaheer Khan took 2 for 91 while debutant Vinay Kumar had 1 for 73 and Ishant Sharma 1 for 89.
Starc said he felt the wicket, India's bowling and some poor shot selection were all at play in varying degrees.
"I think the Indians bowled a bit short early and we (Warner and Cowan) took advantage of that," he said.
"They (India) fixed their lengths up a bit and obviously there was a still a little bit in the wicket which was encouraging for us coming into the third innings."
Skipper Michael Clarke failed to back up his Sydney heroics with only 18, while Mike Hussey managed 14 and Ricky Ponting 7.
Marsh's nightmare return from injury continued as he made just 11 and he now has a pathetic 14 runs from his last five innings at an average of 2.8.
He appears most likely to be axed when injured all-rounder Shane Watson is declared fit to return, with Ponting and Hussey buying more time with their SCG tons and Cowan making runs here and in Melbourne.
Brad Haddin's pre-match criticism of India's depth back-fired when a fired-up Khan showed him the way back to the dressingroom with a third-ball duck.
Tags: sport, cricket, perth-6000, wa, australia First posted January 14, 2012 21:24:12
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