It took Australia less than three sessions to seize control of the Perth Test. After they dismissed India for 161 just after tea, David Warner (104*) smashed the fourth-fastest hundred in Test history, adding 149 unbeaten runs with fellow opener Ed Cowan (40*).

The opening pair were untroubled throughout the last session against a harmless-looking Indian bowling attack despite the conditions at WACA offering plenty of bounce, seam and swing through the day.

Warner, one of the faces of Australia’s new generation of Test cricketers, smashed 13 fours and three sixes en route to his second Test century, leaving Australia a negligible deficit of 12 runs and India staring at their seventh straight defeat overseas. Since Cowan’s wicket in the Sydney Test, India have now conceded 771 runs for one wicket – a stunning statistic that illustrates the difference between the two sides.

Outswinger Ben Hilfenhaus and second-change Peter Siddle stayed true to their cracking form with the ball, taking seven wickets between them, stretching their series tallies to 19 and 14 wickets, respectively.

Skipper Michael Clarke elected to bowl as both sides choose to play four pacers each. The home team recalled left-armer Mitchell Starc in spinner Nathan Lyon’s place, while Ryan Harris replaced the injured James Pattinson. India had Vinay Kumar in R Ashwin’s place.

Despite Australia missing the penetrative abilities of Pattinson, Harris claimed the big wicket of Sachin Tendulkar (15), who despite another positive start, fell LBW after one of the many sight-screen related distractions.

Virat Kohli, who was expected to make way for Rohit Sharma for this Test, top-scored with 44 excellent runs. But both he and VVS Laxman fell before tea, having worked very hard for their 68-run stand. Siddle dismissed both. Kohli fell to the uppish drive to point, letting his impatience and inexperience shine through with the dismissal. Laxman was caught at slip.