The 33-year-old Hussey gave ample display of his class by notching up his ninth Test century and steer the visitors to a comfortable first innings total of 430 on the second day.

The Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir provided a confident start to the second innings rattling up 68 for no loss in 18.1 overs before a sharp shower forced play to be called off a little early.

Sehwag was on 43 and Gambhir was giving him company on 20 at stumps on day two which saw the Australians consolidating their position in the match.

It was Hussey who stole the limelight on the second day with a fine exhibition of stroke-play and temperament as he guided his team to a position from where it could dictate terms in the remaining three days.

Paceman Zaheer Khan was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 5 for 91 while fellow paceman Ishant Sharma scalped 4 for 77 as the fast bowlers accounted for nine wickets in the innings. Harbhajan Singh had to be content with one wicket while captain Anil Kumble returned with dismal figures of 43-6-129-0.

Brad Haddin (33) and Bret Lee (27) came up with useful contributions in the lower order to torment the Indians on a Chinnaswamy track which is showing signs of a gradual deterioration.

With the three days left in the match, the Indians will have to bat out of their skins to counter the Aussie total since they may have to bat on a last day track in the fourth innings.

Resuming at the overnight score of 254 for four, the visitors lost Shane Watson (2) cheaply but Hussey and Brad Haddin rebuild the innings with some sensible batting.

Hussey and Haddin stitched a 74-run partnership for the sixth wicket frustrating the Indian bowlers for 104 minutes before the lunch break. The only wicket the visitors lost in this session was that of Shane Watson.

It was a good breakthrough for India in ideal batting conditions as Ishant Sharma clipped the off stump of Watson with a good length delivery early in the day to raise hopes of an Indian fight back.

Watson, who played his first Test innings in three years, lasted just 14 balls. Ishant, who swung the ball well, recorded an impressive first spell of 7-4-4-1.

But with Hussey in command and Haddin finding his feet, Aussies had different plans as they negotiated the two Indian spinners Kumble and Harbhajan without much difficulty while the pacers also got little assistance from the Chinnaswamy track.

Kumble, in particular, failed to penetrate the Aussie batsmen's defense and the Indian skipper ended up with a dubious world record of conceding 100 runs for the 56th time in Test cricket. Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan has done it 55 times.

Soon after the lunch break, Hussey notched up his ninth Test century and his second against India, continuing to add to his remarkable record since joining the team in 2005.

Although Hussey continued to pile up the misery, the post-lunch session turned out to be a little more productive for the Indians as Ishant Sharma struck twice to remove Brad Haddin (33) and Cameron White (6).

Hussey and Brett Lee (27), however, tormented the hosts with a valuable 59-run partnership for the eighth wicket which took Australia past the 400 mark.

Both Haddin and White perished in quick succession offering simple catches at covers to VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh respectively as Ishant capped his fourth wicket of the innings and looked like wrapping up the tail.

But Hussey proved to be a thorn in India's flesh as he unleashed a flurry of scintillating strokes and even fetched the first six of the innings off Harbhajan.

When Hussey reached his century, it was the 25th century scored at this venue and sixth by an Australian.

The post-tea session saw a dramatic change in India's fortune as Zaheer got some reverse swing going to polish off the tail in quick time.

From a comfortable 416 for seven at the tea interval, the visitors were all out for 430, facing just 3.5 overs after the break.

Zaheer first castled Lee with a gem of an in-swinger and then accounted for Mitchell Johnson with a similar delivery. Hussey was the last wicket to fall with Zaheer dismissing with a vicious delivery which dislodged his stumps, much to the delight of the Indians who could hardly afford the Australians to pile up a bigger first innings total.

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir provided a confident start to the Indian essay with both the batsmen showing no signs of nerve as they attacked the Australian pacers. Both were quick to punish the loose balls and ensured that no scoring opportunity was missed.

Sehwag, expectedly, was the more belligerent of the two batsmen with some crisp shots on both sides of the wicket, prompting the visitors to spread out the field.