Australia are on track to post their best total of the series after Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith batted through the second session on day one of the fourth Test against India in Ahmedabad.
The tourists went to tea at 2-149, with in-form opener Khawaja (65 not out) and acting captain Smith (38no) batting patiently on a pitch offering far less for India's star spinners than the first three Tests.
Khawaja again confirmed his status as Australia's best performed batter on the difficult tour with his third half-century in as many matches.
Smith, who dominated during the 2017 trip to India with three centuries, will be determined to take advantage of the batting-friendly conditions and post his first big score of the series.
The first three Tests all finished in less than three days but this appears to be a more traditional wicket after the pitch in Indore was hit with a "poor" rating from the ICC.
Australia's best total of the series is 263 in their first innings of the second Test in Delhi, with India smashing 400 en route to a big victory in the series opener in Nagpur.
The final Test of the series started after a bizarre political rally before the match involving the prime ministers of both countries, Anthony Albanese, and Narendra Modi, who the 132,000-capacity stadium is named after.
The coin toss was delayed by four minutes to accommodate the extravagant meeting between Modi and Albanese.
Both leaders did a lap of honour in a hovercraft with bats and stumps on the back of it as they celebrated "75 years of friendship through cricket".
Khawaja and Travis Head (32) put on Australia's best opening partnership of the series, 61, after Smith won the toss and batted first.
But the aggressive Head, who was promoted to open when David Warner left the tour mid-series due to a broken elbow, went for one big shot too many and was caught at mid-on off star India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's (1-32) bowling.
Marnus Labuschange's disappointing debut Test tour of India continued when the world's No.1-ranked batter was bowled, chopping on to seamer Mohammed Shami for three.
It was an impressive second spell from Shami (1-31), who bowled a stunning wide with the first ball of the match in scenes reminiscent of England quick Steve Harmison spraying the opening delivery of the 2006-07 Ashes.
India are desperate to bounce back from losing in Indore and seal their spot in the World Test Championship final with a 3-1 series win.
If the hosts do make the WTC decider, they will meet Australia at The Oval in London in June after the tourists secured their place last week.
© AAP 2023