Australia gain upper hand in Delhi Test against India

The second Test between India and Australia witnessed a see-saw battle throughout the second day before the visitors gained the upper hand by stumps in Delhi on Saturday.

When spinner Nathan Lyon picked up his fifth wicket, India were 139-7 and a long way away from Australia's first innings score of 263. But a century stand between Axar Patel (74) and Ravichandran Ashwin (37) rescued the hosts and brought their score to within one run of the Aussies' total.

And while many expected India's spinners to make early inroads in the dozen or so overs before stumps, Australia opener Travis Head went on the attack, scoring 39 from 40 balls to take the tourists to 61-1 for a lead of 62.

The day started positively for India. They were in cruise control at 46 for no loss before Lyon (5-67) turned the match on its head.

The off-spinner mowed down India's top order to leave them reeling at 66-4.

Australia blew all three reviews inside 25 overs but Lyon, leading the tourists' three-pronged spin attack, kept chipping away at India's top order.