Captain Michael Clarke’s sparkling 130 guided his side to a first innings total of 380 and a strong position on the second day at Chennai.
The skipper’s phenomenal patience finally gave way after he and bowler Peter Siddle held out the Indian spinners for 90 minutes in the first session.
Clarke attempted to hit Ravindra Jadeja (2-71) over the long off boundary but miscued and was caught on the boundary.
The captain’s 54-run partnership with Siddle followed a 151-run effort with Moises Henriques on the first day.
Clarke added 27 runs on the second day to take his career tally to 7119, enough to see him pass Greg Chappell (7110) after yesterday passing Don Bradman (6996).
This was his 23rd century from 90 Tests and continues a rare vein of form that began in the home series against the India in 2010-11.