Ed Cowan digs

          Ed Cowan top-scored with a gritty 86, while fellow opener David Warner made 71 but India hit back after the visitors reached 109 without loss at lunch.After a week of negative headlines with James Pattinson, Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson not considered for selection for disciplinary reasons, Australia's chance to respond was delayed when the first day was washed out yesterday.Brad Haddin replaced the injured Matthew Wade while Nathan Lyon, Smith and Mitchell Starc came in for Glenn Maxwell, Watson and Pattinson, with Clarke moving up the order from five to three. After lunch, Cowan brought up his sixth international half century in the 40th over, advancing down the pitch to Ravindra Jadeja before clipping the ball through mid-wicket to the boundary.The pair moved to 137 without loss in the 48th over to register the highest Australian opening partnership in India.They could only add two more runs before the home side struck. Warner advanced down the wicket to Jadeja and got an inside edge onto his pad before the ball looped up to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.With one came two as skipper Clarke - in his only second Test innings at number three - fell to the next ball, stumped by Dhoni off a quicker ball from Jadeja.The runs dried up as the Australians scored just six from the next seven overs, with Hughes taking 20 deliveries to get off the mark before scoring for the first time in 59 deliveries against spinAfter winning the toss and electing to bat, It was as comfortable a morning as Australia could possibly have hoped for after chastening defeats in the opening two games of the series.