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.

... contd.