Day 2: Aussies put India on a backfoot with a good bowling spell

Brett Lee's seemingly unstoppable rise to become one of the greats of Australian bowling reached another milestone here Thursday when he joined the 250 club of Test wickets.

Lee, 31, man-of-the-series against Sri Lanka last month, claimed 4-46 and took his 250th Test wicket to become the sixth all-time leading Australian wicket-taker, overtaking Richie Benaud.

"To think that you're in the 250 club, it's a pretty special moment. I'm a very proud man."

India conceded a 147-run innings deficit on a wearing drop-in pitch with the opening match of the four-Test series seemingly Australia's to lose over the remaining three days.

At stumps, Australia were on track for their 15th consecutive Test win and were cruising at 32 without loss with Matthew Hayden on 22 and Phil Jaques 10, representing an overall lead of 179 runs with 10 wickets intact.

Lee played a major part in helping the Australians seize the momentum with a 179-run lead after the second day's play with 10 wickets and three days left to get a result in the first match of the four-Test series.

The speedster has developed into a model of line and length consistency as he shoulders the responsibility of leading the Australian new-ball attack.

"In our team meetings... we've been talking about being so patient, especially on this MCG (Melbourne) wicket," Lee said.

SCOREBOARD

Australia 1st innings

P. Jaques st Dhoni b Kumble 66
M. Hayden c Dravid b Zaheer 124
R. Ponting b Zaheer 4
M. Hussey lbw b Kumble 2
M. Clarke c Laxman b Singh 20
A. Symonds c sub (Karthik) b Kumble 35
A. Gilchrist c Tendulkar b Kumble 23
B. Hogg c Dravid b Zaheer 17
B. Lee lbw b Kumble 0
M. Johnson not out 15
S. Clark c Harbhajan b Zaheer 21
Extras lb5, w2, nb9 16
Total 343

Fall of wkts 1-135, 2-162, 3-165, 4-225, 5-241, 6-281, 7-288, 8-294, 9-312

Bowling:
Zaheer 23.4-1-94-4 (1w, 8nb)
Singh 20-3-82-1 (1w)
Harbhajan 20-3-61-0
Ganguly 3-1-15-0 (1nb)
Kumble 25-4-84-5
Tendulkar 1-0-2-0


India 1st innings


W. Jaffer c Gilchrist b Lee 4
R. Dravid lbw b Clark 5
V.V.S. Laxman c Ponting b Lee 26
S. Tendulkar b Clark 62
S. Ganguly b Hogg 43
Y. Singh c Gilchrist b Clark 0
M. Dhoni lbw b Clark 0
A. Kumble c Gilchrist b Lee 27
H. Singh c Clarke b Hogg 2
Z. Khan c Gilchrist b Lee 11
R. Singh not out 2
Extras b4, lb3, nb7 14
Total 196



Fall of wkts 1-4, 2-31, 3-55, 4-120, 5-122, 6-122, 7-166, 8-173, 9-193


Bowling:
Lee 19.5-6-46-4 (6nb)
Johnson 13-5-25-0 (1nb)
Symonds 3-1-8-0
Clark 15-4-28-4
Hogg 21-3-82-2


Australia 2nd innings


P. Jaques not out 10
M. Hayden not out 22
Total for no loss 32



Bowling
Zaheer 4-1-17-0
Singh 3-1-15-0
Kumble 1-1-0-0