Ravindra Jadeja dismissed David Warner and Australian captain Michael Clarke off successive deliveries to rattle Australia after a big first wicket stand.
Jadeja gave India the much-needed breakthrough by dismissing Warner as the Aussie came out of the crease to a delivery, but for some reason restrained his forward movement and as a result, he was not quite to the pitch of the ball, that bounced a little extra, hit the inside edge and then the top of the pad to lob up for a catch for MS Dhoni to run down the pitch and complete the dismissal.
Warner slammed 9 fours in his 71-run knock and added 139 runs with Ed Cowan for the first wicket.
Jadeja then dismissed Clarke with a beauty of a delivery. The Australian captain was induced out of his crease with a flighted delivery but it turned across his bat beating him comprehensively and Dhoni completed the stumping with lightning speed to dismiss his counterpart for a first ball duck.
Australia lost their third wicket when Pragyan Ojha had Phil Hughes caught behind by MS Dhoni.
Ojha flighted a delivery on middle and got it to spin down the leg side with some extra bounce. Hughes looked to flick it across the line but it caught the edge of the bat and Dhoni grabbed a sharp catch to his right.
Cowan joined his opening partner Warner in the half-centurions' list after lunch.
This is Cowan's sixth half-century and his third against India.
A century opening partnership between David Warner and Ed Cowan placed Australia comfortably at 109/0 at lunch.
This is the third century opening partnership between Warner and Cowan.
Warner did the bulk of the scoring in the opening stand, hit some fine shots and wasn't afraid to use his feet against the Indian spinners and reached his seventh half-century, his second against India.
Warner and Cowan justified their captain Michael Clarke's decision to bat first as Australia got off to quiet but confident start.
Warner and Cowan adopted a watchful approach in the first hour and batted sensibly against the Indian seamers. The runs started to come slowly after that period as both the openers settled down.
Apart from the first over of R Ashwin and the last few overs before lunch, the Indian spinners failed to leave any impact.
India have replaced Harbhajan Singh with Pragyan Ojha and Shikhar Dhawan makes his Test debut.
Australia have brought in Brad Haddin in place of the injured Matthew Wade, Steve Smith replaces Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell makes way for Nathan Lyon, and Mitchell Starc comes in the place of James Pattinson.
After winning the toss, Clarke said that hopefully they have learnt from their mistakes and emphasizes on the importance of making runs in the first innings.
MS Dhoni reckoned that it was not a bad toss to lose as there will be some moisture in the wicket and they would look to exploit it.
Traditionally, the wicket at the PCA Stadium is considered to be the fastest in the country which provides good bounce and movement to the bowlers. But it has also assisted the spinners in the past. One can call it a sporting wicket as the batsmen will also enjoy the ball coming onto the bat.
Not a single ball could be bowled on the first day of the Test due to inclement weather and incessant rain.
Teams:
India: MS Dhoni (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma.
Australia: Michael Clarke (Capt.), David Warner, Ed Cowan, Phil Hughes, Steve Smith, Brad Haddin, Moises Henriques, Xavier Doherty, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon.
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