Kumble claims 600th Test wicket

The Indian skipper picked up two wickets to join Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne, as the only bowlers to take 600 Test victims on a day when Australia's batting lineup wilted on a baking hot day at the WACA.

Leftarm paceman Rudra Pratap Singh collected four wickets after a superb display of fast bowling while Irfan Pathan and teenage paceman Ishant Sharma grabbed two apiece.

Australia, who won the first two matches in the series to equal their own world record of 16 consecutive Test wins, looked to have gained the upper hand when they quickly polished off the Indian innings for 330 in the morning session.

Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark combined to knock off the last four Indian wickets for just two runs in 17 deliveries, but Australia's own batting collapsed as the temperature climbed to 41 degrees Celcius.

The Australians lost their first three wickets before the total had passed 13, then their last five for 47. Only Andrew Symonds (66) and Adam Gilchrist (55) saved them from complete disaster.

Indian wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had five catches, including four off RP Singh, and had a hand in another, deflecting a catch off Symonds to Rahul Dravid at slip that gave Kumble his 600th wicket.

Pathan, playing his first match of the series after replacing Harbhajan Singh, triggered the Australian collapse when he dismissed openers Chris Rogers and Phil Jaques in the same over before lunch, then Sharma took the vital wickets of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke in the middle session.

Dramatic Events

RP Singh chipped in to remove dangerman Mike Hussey for a duck before Symonds and Gilchrist steadied the innings with a 102-run sixth wicket partnership off 84 balls before the tail crumbled.

The dramatic events of the day seemed unlikely when India made a bright but eventful start after resuming on 297-6, adding 33 without loss in the first hour.

But the match suddenly burst to life when Clark trapped Dhoni lbw for 19 with a ball that straightened up and hit above the knee roll and looked to be sailing over the bails.

Johnson dismissed Pathan for 28 when he struck him on the pads with a full toss in the next over, then Clark removed Kumble for one off the next ball, caught at point by debutant Rogers.

Johnson finished off the innings by dismissing RP Singh for a duck, caught in the gully by Hussey, leaving Sharma stranded without making a run.

Rogers, making his debut after Matthew Hayden succumbed to a hamstring problem, was trapped lbw by Pathan for four even though the ball looked to be drifting past leg stump.

Fellow opener Jaques departed two balls later, caught at second slip by Vangipurappu Laxman for eight.