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Melbourne, Dec 27 - Skipper Steven Smith scored his seventh Test century, his third successive hundred in the series, to propel Australia to a strong 389 for seven at lunch on day two of the third Test against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Continuing his incredible form in the series, Smith (batting 128), first with wicketkeeper Brad Haddin (55) and then with Mitchell Johnson (28), put up important partnerships to put his team in a dominant position. Ryan Harris was batting on 10 with Smith at lunch.
Resuming the day at 259 for five, overnight unbeaten batsmen Smith and Haddin began confidently with the keeper-batsman being the more aggressive of the two. India peppered him with a lot of short balls, hoping to shake him up and exposing his perceived weakness to bouncers.
But Haddin was equal to the task and was willing to take on what was offered to him, pulling and hooking merrily to score runs at a fast clip, reaching his half-century off 75 balls.
Smith, on the other hand, began more sedately. He took his time to get going but smoothly reached his third hundred of the series, flicking a fuller length ball fine on the leg side to reach the feat.
His hundred came off 191 balls with nine fours and a six, making him the first Australian captain to score centuries in each of his first two Tests as skipper and fourth overall after South Africa's Jackie McGlew, India Vijay Hazare and England's Alastair Cook.
The signs were ominous for India as their bowlers failed to learn from their mistakes and continued bowling short, making it easier for Smith and Haddin to score freely.
The duo soon put up their 100-run partnership and were looking good for more. But Haddin was dismissed completely against the run of play when he hesitated to play or leave a Mohammed Shami delivery, succeeding only to edge it to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It was Shami's third wicket of the innings.
But Smith continued the run feast with Mitchell Johnson (28) to lead Australia to a formidable first innings total.
Australia
Chris Rogers c Dhoni b Mohammed Shami 57
David Warner c Dhawan b Yadav 0
Shane Watson lbw b Ashwin 52
Steven Smith batting 128
Shaun Marsh c Dhoni b Mohammed Shami 32
Joe Burns c Dhoni b Yadav 13
Brad Haddin c Dhoni b Mohammed Shami 55
Mitchell Johnson st Dhoni b Ashwin 28
Ryan Harris batting 10
Extras (b 1, lb 7, w 1, nb 5) 14
Total (for seven wickets in 115 overs) 389
Fall of wickets 1-0 (Warner, 1.6 overs), 2-115 (Rogers, 36.2), 3-115 (Watson, 37.2), 4-184 (Marsh, 60.6), 5-216 (Burns, 70.5), 6-326 (Haddin, 100.6), 7-376 (Johnson, 111.4)
Bowling
Ishant Sharma 28-6-91-0
Umesh Yadav 26-3-97-2
Mohammed Shami 25-4-114-3
Ravichandran Ashwin 31-7-65-2
Murali Vijay 5-0-14-0
Match Details
Test debuts: Joe Burns (Australia), Lokesh Rahul (India)
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and Richard Kettleborough (England)
TV umpire: John Ward (Australia)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)
Reserve umpire: Geoff Joshua (Australia)
