Mountain to climb for India as Aussies declare

Australia piled on the agony for the Indians as they handed the visitors a fourth innings target of 499 on the third day of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG on Friday Half-centuries from Michael Clarke and Phil Jaques, and handy contributions from the rest of the batting order ensured Australia were firmly on top as captain Ricky Ponting declared their second innings on 351-7 with an overall lead of 498.Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds restored Australia's momentum after India's bowlers managed to peg the hosts back during the second session.Captain Anil Kumble got into the act to remove opener Phil Jaques who fell for his second straight half-century, before RP Singh struck to remove Michael Hussey (36) to stem the flow of runs.Zaheer Khan, too, appeared to get into the act when he bowled Symonds with a swinging delivery only to return to his mark as he had overstepped the line.Harbhajan Singh snared two wickets in two overs in the morning session as India attempted to claw back even as Australia continued to build their lead. Off-spinner Harbhajan reached 250 Test wickets with his second wicket after openers Matthew Hayden and Phil Jaques gave Australia a breezy start. Hayden followed up an imperious 124 in the first innings with a quickfire 47 before he holed out for the off-spinner's first wicket in the game. The burly batsman, too, reached a personal milestone of 8,000 Test runs.Captain Ricky Ponting had a rare bad outing in both innings of a Test when he edged Harbhajan to the slips for three as Australia fell to 89-2. He was out for four in the first essay. India's effort with the ball to close out Australia for 343 in the first innings was wasted as the hosts' fast bowling duo of Stuart Clark and Brett Lee bagged four wickets each to establish a huge 147-run lead.