Brisbane, Australia: Steve Smith scored 133 in his first test as captain, reinforcing his leadership credentials and helping Australia take a 97-run first-innings lead over India on day three of the second test.
Smith and Mitchell Johnson (88) shared a ground-record counterattacking 148-run partnership for the seventh wicket after Australia lost two early wickets Friday, seizing the momentum back from India.
And after Smith and Johnson fell in the same over from Ishant Sharma (3-117), Mitchell Starc scored 52 in a cameo that lifted Australia from 398-8 to all out for 505, with the last wicket falling just four balls after the tea interval.
Starc shared a 56-run ninth-wicket partnership off 50 balls with Nathan Lyon (23) and 51 for the last wicket with No. 11 Josh Hazlewood, who was unbeaten on 32 in his first test innings.
Smith, standing in for injured skipper Michael Clarke, became the first Australian since Greg Chappell in 1975 to score a hundred in his first innings as test captain.
His five-hour stand ended when he was clean bowled by Sharma. He faced 191 balls and ushered the team through a precarious period in the middle of the innings when the top-order got starts but was unable to produced prolonged partnerships.
It was the first time he was out in the series, following unbeaten scores of 162 and 52 in Australia's 48-run win in the first test at Adelaide last week.
Smith had some nervous moments in the 90s, though, surviving a strong appeal for lbw from Ravi Ashwin to a ball pitching just outside the line on 95, and getting a thick inside edge that just missed his stumps when he was on 96. He was more convincing moving past triple figures with a cut boundary off Varun Aaron, then raised his bat and looked skyward to dedicate the hundred to his late teammate Phillip Hughes, who died last month after being hit by a short ball during a Sheffield Shield match.
He played second-fiddle to a degree in the match-turning seventh-wicket partnership, which ended when Johnson was caught behind to end a 93-ball innings that contained 13 boundaries and a six.
Clarke was out five balls later, with Sharma's two breakthroughs in the 88th giving India hope of holding onto a first-innings advantage until Starc took up the attack.
Australia had resumed at 221-4 on day three but lost two wickets in the first hour and slipped to 247-6.
Mitch Marsh (11) didn't offer a shot to a ball from Sharma that jagged back sharply and took out off stump. India bowled short at Brad Haddin (6) and was rewarded when he fended at a short ball from Varun Aaron and gloved a simple catch to Cheteshwar Pujara at short leg to continue his poor run with the bat.
All four frontline Indian bowlers conceded 100-plus runs, with Yadav the pick of them with a return of 3-101.
