India and Australia were involved in a see-saw battle on the first day of the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Delhi on Friday.
Australia posted 263 in their first innings and India reached 21 for no loss by stumps at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital.
India captain Rohit Sharma led a solid reply for the hosts in the final stages of the last session, scoring 13 while his opening partner KL Rahul made 4 before stumps.
The Aussies produced a much better show with the bat on a turning track in Delhi after their horror-show in the series-opener in Nagpur.
Usman Khawaja missed out on his 14th Test hundred as he got out for 81 to Ravindra Jadeja, who completed 250 wickets in the format with the Aussie opener's wicket.
Jaddu enters elite list
Jadeja became the fastest Indian all-rounder to complete the double of 2,500 runs and 250 wickets in Test cricket after the dismissal.
The pitch was expected to turn and it played according to script for the Indians, although this time it was fast bowler Mohammed Shami who finished as the top wicket-taker for the hosts with 4 for 60 while spin twins Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed 3 each.
Ash gets Marnus, Smith in same over
Ashwin got the big wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith in the same over to dent the visitors before Khawaja and Peter Handscomb steadied the ship for them.
Khawaja, Handscomb save Aus the blushes
Handscomb was the other big contributor with the bat, finishing unbeaten on 72 as wickets fell around him.
"It is always challenging and when you have quality bowlers like Ashwin and Jadeja it is always challenging.
"There is a reason India have produced a lot of great right-handers, left-handers need to be flamboyant to score runs. Peter has got a great defence, he batted beautifully today. We got 260 and you don't know what is a good score on this track until the other team bats," Khawaja said after the day's play.
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