MELBOURNE: India struck back with four late wickets while Australia's Mike Hussey posted a defiant half-century to leave the first test delicately poised at the close of the third day on Wednesday.
In a pulsating day of high drama at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Zaheer Khan dismissed Ricky Ponting for 60 to end a 115-run stand with middle order batsman Hussey and spark another batting collapse for the hosts.
The under-pressure Hussey, under pressure to retain his place in the re-building team after a pair of golden ducks in his last two innings, hung on for 79 as his partners wilted to push Australia to 179-8 at stumps, an overall lead of 230.
While that target appears entirely reachable given the quality of India's batting lineup it remains a challenging one in the context of the see-sawing match.
With Hussey and Ponting raising their half-centuries and India desperately needing a breakthrough, captain MS Dhoni threw Zaheer the ball and the 33-year-old struck with his second delivery.
Flinging it full and wide, Zaheer coaxed Ponting into a miscued drive that went straight to Virender Sehwag in the gully. That cut short Ponting's second successive innings in the 60s after each had promised more.
Zaheer then had Brad Haddin caught behind by VVS Laxman for six, ending a flighty 11-minute stint at the crease punctuated by speculative slogs that did little to dispel the wicketkeeper's growing reputation for giving up his wicket cheaply.
With Australia's underbelly exposed, Yadav twisted the knife further by dismissing paceman Siddle for four, with Dhoni diving to take a superb catch.
COLLAPSE
Australia captain Michael Clarke sprang a surprise by sending spinner Nathan Lyon in ahead of his slogging pacemen but the move backfired when spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had him trapped in front for a duck.
India's Yadav had earlier blitzed Australia's top order, taking three quick wickets, with Ishant Sharma taking a fourth as the hosts' top order collapsed to 27-4.
David Warner, a Twenty20 specialist battling to cement his place in the test side, was out for five playing onto his stumps after slashing at a wide delivery he should have left well alone.
Ed Cowan, who scored a judicious 68 in the first innings as a succession of partners came and went, threw away his wicket by padding up to Yadav and was given out for lbw on eight.
The rangy 24-year-old Yadav had his third when number three Shaun Marsh played onto his stumps with an indiscriminate swipe in a carbon copy of Warner's downfall minutes earlier.
Paceman Sharma had bowled with venom in a wicket-less first innings, but he was finally rewarded when he bowled Clarke through the gate for one.
Australia's stunning collapse, the latest in a rash of batting disasters in recent tests, wasted the good work of their bowlers, who ran through India's last seven wickets for 73 runs before lunch.
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