MELBOURNE : Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and paceman Peter Siddle mounted a superb fightback to rescue Australia after Zaheer Khan fired up India with a fierce afternoon spell on the opening day of the first Test on Monday.
Paceman Zaheer took two wickets in successive balls before spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made it three for the addition of nine runs as Australia's middle order folded to leave the hosts reeling on 214-6 at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground.
But Haddin (21) and Siddle (34) rode their luck and survived a raft of appeals to add an unbeaten 63 for the seventh wicket, guiding the hosts to 277-6 at the end of the first day of the four-Test series.
Zaheer's fiery afternoon spell ignited the Indian attack after debutant Ed Cowan and captain Michael Clarke had threatened to get on top of the tourists, but it is just as
likely to re-open debate about the use of the decision review system (DRS).
Mike Hussey's dismissal, caught behind for a golden duck off Zaheer, left the number six furious and television replays appeared to show the ball missing his glove on the way through to India skipper MS Dhoni.
But with the tourists having thumbed down the use of the replay technology before the series, Hussey had no recourse to appeal against umpire Marais Erasmus's decision and trudged off cursing.
Erasmus later turned down a raft of appeals, one off Zaheer's bowling that appeared to trap Haddin plum in front in the final overs.
Amid the drama, Haddin and Siddle stood firm to frustrate the bowlers as shadows crept across the ground.
Resuming on 170-3 after the tea interval, Clarke and Cowan added a brisk 45 for the fourth wicket before Dhoni threw the ball back to Zaheer, who had struggled for rhythm in his first Test after a four-month injury layoff.
The 33-year-old found his line in devastating fashion in the 12th over after tea, beating Clarke with a sizzling rising delivery that faded away wide from off-stump, then having him chop onto his stumps for 31 with the next ball that cut back in.
Zaheer then fired a scintillating bouncer that had Hussey leaping at his crease before the ball thudded into Dhoni's gloves as Indian fans roared.
After a big appeal, umpire Erasmus raised his finger amid the din, leaving Hussey shaking his head in disbelief.
Haddin flicked a single off his pads to deny Zaheer a hat-trick and briefly quell the tumult, but spinner Ashwin kept the momentum rolling by dismissing Cowan for 68 three overs later.
Ashwin coaxed Cowan into playing a poorly timed cut-shot that served only to nick a feathered catch to Dhoni.
Australia, whose batsmen were called into a boot camp after suffering demoralising collapses in recent Tests against New Zealand and South Africa, had lost three wickets for nine runs.
After Clarke won the toss and opted to bat, Cowan displayed impressive composure on his Test debut as the 29-year-old posted his half-century and built a 113-run stand with former captain Ricky Ponting after lunch.
Replacing the axed Phillip Hughes as opener after enjoying career-best form in the domestic competition, Cowan and Ponting pushed Australia to 159 before tea to steady the ship after the hosts had wobbled to lunch on 68-2.
Desperate to score his first century in nearly two years, Ponting was out for 62, poking at a stinging Umesh Yadav delivery that bounced savagely and glanced the bat before giving VVS Laxman a simple catch in the slips.
Ponting's wicket was Yadav's third and just rewards after he repeatedly troubled the former captain with his pace and varying bounce on a green-tinged wicket that offered something for both batsmen and bowlers.
The 37-year-old Ponting survived a few false strokes and raised his half-century with an unsightly slog that pushed the ball square into a gap, prompting fans to give the
under-pressure batsman a standing ovation.
Cowan scratched out only 14 runs by lunch, but opened up after the break and lofted a short ball over gully for four, one of seven boundaries in his 177-ball innings.
Yadav earlier dismissed Shaun Marsh for a duck, the number three spooning a simple catch to Virat Kohli at gully, shortly before ending David Warner's innings after a quickfire 37.
Twenty20 specialist Warner blasted four boundaries and a six but was out first ball after a short rain delay in the morning when he miscued a hook shot to be caught behind by Dhoni. (Reuters)
