Resuming the game from 94/2 at lunch, Australia lost the wicket of Cowan at the score of 106. Off-spinner R Ashwin bowled out Ed Cowan after his fighting knock of 38.
Shane Watson, who is leading the Australian side in the absence of Michael Clarke, then became the first victim of Ravindra Jadeja when the Australian score reached 115.
Watson was stumped out off Ravindra Jadeja.
Before the side could recover from Watson's fall, Ashwin struck again to send back Matthew Wade, leaving Australia reeling at 117/5.
Earlier, Australian batsmen had testing time on a dodgy Kotla strip in the morning session
Ishant Sharma removed opener David Warner (0) and No 3 batsman Phillip Hughes (45) in two spells on a track where the odd balls took off dangerously from the good length spot while some of the balls kept low.
Even as Ishant and his new ball partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled well in tandem, one can't rule out the fact that the behaviour of the 22-yard strip prepared by curator Venkat Sundaram was highlight of the first session.
Hughes, who found some form going his way during the second inning in Mohali, took the attacking route knowing well that playing a game of survival would be difficult on this track. He hit 10 boundaries in his 59-ball knock.
The left-hander hit some flowing cover drives off both Bhuvneshwar and Ishant. He dispatched a lot of length deliveries to the boundary but somehow never looked set partly due to the nature of the pitch.
Even some of the deliveries bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin rose awkwardly and frequently hit the handle of the bat.
In fact before his dismissal in the 21st over, Ishant softened up Hughes with a delivery that took off from the short of good length spot and hit him flush on grill of his helmet.
The delivery unnerved Hughes big time and two balls later, a delivery that landed on the same spot kept low and the batsman was played on.
Cowan and Hughes added 67 runs for the second wicket. Watson survived a stumping appeal off Ashwin's delivery as he barely managed to drag his feet back in the crease.
A day earlier, Ishant spoke about him being more effective with the old ball but the lanky speedster decided to prove himself 'wrong' as he got a couple of wickets with the new ball.
For a change, he got a wicket in his very first over with a fuller delivery outside the off-stump, which Warner played away from his body with minimal feet movement.
Virat Kohli standing at second slip, finally held onto a catch having missed a couple of chances in Mohali.
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