Shaun Marsh and Renshaw fashion vital lead for Australia

It is hard to believe this series is only five days old, such is the drama that has already been witnessed. And such has been the unexpected dominance of Australia that this fifth day of the campaign - and the second day in Bengaluru - began with ominous predictions that India's hopes of regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy would be dead unless they had launched a fightback by stumps. Does six wickets constitute enough of a fightback? The jury is out.

Certainly, India's bowlers deserve credit for their persistence. All day they maintained pressure on Australia's batsmen, and the pressure was particularly intense during a gripping morning session. But by stumps, the cold reality was that Australia held a lead that was already useful, and which on the third morning may yet progress to become match-winning. They went to stumps 48 runs in front, with the total on 237 for 6, and with Matthew Wade on 25 and Mitchell Starc on 14.

The anchors of Australia's day had been the oldest and youngest members of the side. Matt Renshaw, the 20-year-old opener, showed maturity and patience in compiling 60; Shaun Marsh, the 33-year-old recalled for this series, was equally respectful of the bowling and ground out 66 of his own. Both men fell as they approached 200 deliveries, their concentration perhaps waning, but they were to be commended for their efforts.

The pitch was cracking like a dry river-bed: spinners threatened with sharp turn and fast bowlers sent through the occasional skidder. No delivery summed up the batting challenge better than the last ball before tea, when Ishant Sharma had Mitchell Marsh lbw for an 11-ball duck to a delivery that barely bounced above his ankles. It was the last ball of the 80th over, and thus the last ball before the teams had their reviews renewed, but Marsh was so plumb that he just walked off.

If that ball demonstrated the danger of low bounce, R Ashwin's dismissal of David Warner showed how spinners can use the surface. During the morning session, Ashwin attacked the footmarks outside the leg stump of Australia's left-handers and after a number of searching deliveries caused problems, Warner lost his off stump when one pitched outside leg and ripped across and past his outside edge.

These deliveries also served to highlight how invaluable runs on the board might become over the remainder of the Test. Should Australia's lower order find a way to lift their advantage up to triple-figures on the third day, it would be a long, hard road for India to fight back into the series. Still, India at least kept themselves in the match on day two, and that was more than could be said of their second day in Pune.

The day had started with Australia at 40 for 0; the 197 runs they added for the loss of six wickets were the product of impressive resilience. The morning session was particularly enthralling. It was one of those times when the raw numbers fail to tell the story - Australia crawled along by 47 runs, India managed only two wickets. But the intensity of the contest was undeniable. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja found sharp turn, Ishant and Umesh Yadav found edges and up-and-down bounce.

There were tight lbw appeals, edges through the cordon, words exchanged, more exaggerated facial expressions than in an acting class for beginners. Both teams wanted to pretend the other was under all the pressure. The reality was that all 13 players on the field were under the pump. Ashwin got Warner, and Steven Smith edged onto his pad and up to the wicketkeeper for 8 off 52 balls, yet by lunch neither team had struck the vital blow.

Importantly for Australia, Renshaw had batted through the session, and after the resumption he brought up a fine 183-ball half-century. He was edgier than a Richard Pryor comedy gig - four of his five fours went through gaps in the cordon - but it was not until the 67th over of his innings that his focus appeared to lapse. He advanced to lift Jadeja down the ground for six, then two balls later was stumped coming down the wicket again, as Jadeja turned one past his legs and Wriddhiman Saha did the rest.

Peter Handscomb played positively and struck a couple of boundaries before he too fell to Jadeja, flicking on the up to midwicket where Ashwin took a good juggling catch. But Marsh stepped up where Renshaw had left off, as Australia's rock, repeating his mantra to watch the ball, and doing so for 197 deliveries.

Marsh had some nervous moments. On 14, he fended at a delivery from Umesh that hit a crack and jagged away; India's half-hearted appeal was turned down, but replays suggested the ball had kissed Marsh's glove on the way through. Then on 44 he had two lucky breaks: he was given out lbw to Umesh but a review found the ball had struck him outside the line of off stump, and in the next over he was trapped plumb by Ishant - who had over-stepped and been no-balled on-field.

Marsh went on to bring up his fifty from his 162nd delivery, but on 66 his time - and perhaps his energy - ran out when he flicked a catch to midwicket off Umesh. It was the first wicket of the innings for Umesh, who like his team-mates bowled tightly and created opportunities, though whether enough opportunities remains to be seen.

That only one wicket - Marsh's - fell in the final session gave Australia the edge. India would have hoped for more than six wickets in a day on a difficult batting pitch, in a series that has been played at breakneck speed. They remain in the match, but only if their batsmen show vast improvement in their second innings.