Captain Michael Clarke led from the front with a sparkling unbeaten century under pressure as Australia recovered from a precarious position to post a respectable 316 for seven on the opening day of the first cricket Test against India here today.

Clarke brought up his 23rd Test century off the second last ball of the day hitting left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja towards long-off to remain unbeaten on 103 on a day which saw an engrossing battle between the bat and the ball.

Clarke negated all the good work done by off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (6/88) who took all but one among seven wickets that fell on the day at the Chepauk.

Clarke was well-complemented by debutant Moises Henriques (68) as the pair added 147 runs for the sixth wicket after Ashwin’s terrific post-lunch spell saw the visitors being reduced to 153 for five.

The Tamil Nadu office finally broke the partnership by dismissing the impressive Henriques, trapping him leg-before much to the relief of his teammates.

Ashwin’s fantastic delivery

Ashwin, who took his sixth five-wicket haul in Test matches ended with fantastic figures of six for 88 in 30 overs but should consider himself unlucky being robbed off Clarke’s wicket due to the absence of Decision Review System (DRS).

The Australian captain was batting on 39 when he offered a simple bat-pad catch to Cheteshwar Pujara at forward short-leg but umpire Kumar Dharmasena turned down the vociferous appeal from the Indians.

The television replays clearly indicated that the ball had hit Clarke’s bat before flying off to the close-in fielder. The rival skipper took advantage of the situation and did not look back as he took his team to a position of safety with other Indian bowlers looking pedestrian.

A lot was expected of Harbhajan Singh playing his 100th Test match but the experienced off-spinner went off the boil after the first few overs giving away 71 runs in 19 overs.

Debutant Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s performance also left a lot to be desired. With a pace of about 130 kmph, he could hardly pose much problem for Clarke and Henriques.

Admirable show by Clark and Henriques

It was a commendable show by Clarke and Henriques, who were positive to begin with and didn’t look like getting bogged down by the bald turner that was on offer.

In all three sessions, the Australian batsmen maintained a decent run-rate despite losing wickets at regular intervals.

Opting the bat first, David Warner showed decisive footwork during the first couple of hours as he attacked the Indian spinners Harbhajan and Ashwin. Ed Cowan also looked confident although both the openers got a reprieve in the first hour.

Cowan charged down the track and Dhoni missed a stumping chance while Warner’s catch was dropped by Virender Sehwag at the first slip. The bowler on both occasions was Ashwin.

However, the burly home boy had the last laugh against left-hander Cowan (29), who confidently charged down the track to loft Ashwin. The ball turned and bounced as Dhoni whipped the bails off in a flash.

Phil Hughes (6) didn’t look comfortable at all during his brief stay and dragged a wide short delivery from Ashwin onto the stumps.

Warner however continued to attack as he completed his 50 off 77 balls with five fours in company of Shane Watson (28).

The duo put on 54 runs for the third wicket as Australia went into lunch at 126 for two.

The first hour in the post-lunch session turned out to be very productive for India as Ashwin dismissed Watson, Warner and Matthew Wade in quick succession as the visitors suffered a mid-innings collapse.

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