An unbeaten half-century by Shaun Marsh put Australia in a strong position on Monday, setting India a near-record task if they are to win the third Test in Melbourne. Marsh produced one of his finest knocks for his country with 62 to steer Australia to 261 for seven, giving the hosts an overall lead of 326 runs heading into Tuesday's final day.
The Indians will have to defy history at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground, where they have not won for 33 years, to keep the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series alive to next week's fourth and final Test in Sydney.
The highest successful run chase in the fourth innings at the MCG remains 332 for seven by England against Australia in 1928.
Teams have struggled to score more than 250 in the fourth innings on the drop-in pitch in recent years, with India all out for 169 (2011) and 161 (2007) in their last two Tests at the ground, both defeats.
Australia has to decide whether to declare overnight or bat on with a total of 96 overs to be bowled on the fifth day, but opener David Warner believes more runs are needed.
"I think we need a few more runs than we've got at the moment. Shaun Marsh is batting fantastic and we saw what Ryan Harris did in the first innings (74), so hopefully he can produce something similar to that tomorrow and I think we'll assess it after we're all out," he said.
It was Marsh's fighting innings which tilted the Test Australia's way after India reduced the home side to 176 for five, claiming the key wickets of Steve Smith and Chris Rogers in the process.
The tourists kept the clamps on the Australian batting in a tense final session, before Marsh clawed back the advantage.
The tourists removed Smith for just 14 after the Aussie skipper scored 192 in the first innings in his third century of the series.
Scoreboard
-- Australia 1st innings 530 (S. Smith 192, R. Harris 74; M. Shami 4-138)
-- India 1st innings (overnight 462 for 8)
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M. Vijay c Marsh b Watson 68
S. Dhawan c Smith b Harris 28
C. Pujara c Haddin b Harris 25
V. Kohli c Haddin b Johnson 169
A. Rahane lbw b Lyon 147
L. Rahul c Hazlewood b Lyon 3
M. Dhoni c Haddin b Harris 11
R. Ashwin c and b Harris 0
M. Shami c Smith b Johnson 12
U. Yadav c Haddin b Johnson 0
I. Sharma not out 0
Extras: (lb1, w1) 2
Total: (all out; 128.5 overs) 465
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Fall of wickets: 1-55 (Dhawan), 2-108 (Pujara), 3-147 (Vijay), 4-409 (Rahane), 5-415 (Rahul), 6-430 (Dhoni), 7-434 (Ashwin), 8-462 (Kohli), 9-462 (Yadav), 10-465 (Shami)
Bowling: Johnson 30.5-6-135-3, Harris 26-7-70-4 (1w), Hazlewood 25-6-75-0, Watson 16-3-65-1, Lyon 29-3-108-2, Smith 2-0-11-0
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Australia 2nd innings
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D. Warner lbw b Ashwin 40
C. Rogers b Ashwin 69
S. Watson c Dhoni b I. Sharma 17
S. Smith c Rahane b Yadav 14
S. Marsh not out 62
J. Burns c Dhoni b I. Sharma 9
B. Haddin c Dhoni b Yadav 13
M. Johnson c Rahane b Shami 15
R. Harris not out 8
Extras: (lb8, w1, nb5) 14
Total: (7 wickets; 75 overs) 261
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Fall of wickets: 1-57 (Warner), 2-98 (Watson), 3-131 (Smith), 4-164 (Rogers), 5-176 (Burns), 6-202 (Haddin), 7-234 (Johnson)
Bowling: Yadav 14-1-73-2 (1w), Shami 20-2-75-1, I. Sharma 19-4-49-2 (5nb), Ashwin 22-2-56-2
Toss: Australia
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
TV umpire: John Ward (AUS)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI).
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