New Delhi (AFP) - Australia spinner Nathan Lyon wreaked havoc with four wickets including skipper Rohit Sharma to leave the hosts reeling on 88-4 at lunch on Saturday's day two of the second Test.
Virat Kohli, on 14, and Ravindra Jadeja, on 15, were batting at the break with the hosts still trailing Australia by 175 runs in New Delhi.
The tourists overcame an early blow when opener David Warner was ruled out of the match with a concussion after a hit on the head in his day one knock of 15. Matt Renshaw is his substitute.
Australia burned two of their three available reviews in the morning when overnight batsmen Rohit, who made 32 after resuming on 13, and KL Rahul initially stood firm against the opposition attack.
But Lyon turned on the heat in his second over of the day to send back a struggling Rahul, under fire for his poor Test form of late, trapped lbw for 17.
He then bowled Rohit with a quicker delivery that rattled the captain's stumps and then got Cheteshwar Pujara out lbw for a duck in the batsman's landmark 100th Test.
Pujara's lbw was turned down by the umpire only to be successfully reviewed by visiting team.
India were soon tottering at 66-4 when Lyon got Shreyas Iyer caught at short leg for four.
Kohli and the left-handed Jadeja were batting cautiously against the spinners including debutant Matthew Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy to see off the rest of the session in an unbeaten partnership of 22.
Australia, who lost the opener of the four-match series, were bowled out for 263 on Friday after electing to bat first.
Usman Khawaja (81) and Peter Handscomb (72 not out) stood out for the tourists.