Cricket: Clarke's 251 has Aussies sitting comfortable

Ricky Ponting breathed new life into his Test career and captain Michael Clarke smashed an unbeaten maiden double century as Australia mercilessly pounded India into the hallowed turf of the SCG on Wednesday.

With just one wicket falling all day, Australia finished at stumps on 4-482, giving them a giant lead of 291 runs on India's dismal first innings offering of 191 on day one.

Clarke (31 fours and one six) is unbeaten on 251 after earlier sharing in a mammoth 288-run fourth wicket stand with his predecessor as captain Ponting, who blasted 134.

Rather than taking his foot off the gas, Clarke kept kicking on to then maintain an unbeaten partnership of 157 with Michael Hussey who came out after sitting in the change rooms for much of the day to be 55 not out.

In most other circumstances, Clarke's superb knock - the highest by an Australian at the SCG - would have be the stand-alone toast of the 100th Test played at the iconic Sydney venue.

But the theatre of seeing Ponting celebrate his first hundred since January 2010 was what the fans came to see.

Ponting and Clarke returned to the crease to start the second day, both just a few runs shy of half centuries and with Australia at 3-116.

By stumps, Clarke was still out in the middle having surpassed Doug Walters' 242 in 1969 and within reach of the highest individual score at the SCG (287 by England's Reginald Foster in the Ashes of 1903-04).

India's chances of saving the second Test are on life support and, with that, their hopes of finally breaking through for their first series win in Australia.

Clarke played with authority all the way through his innings and leapt in jubilation when he recorded his second century on home soil at the SCG in the over before lunch.

The crowd groaned with disappointment when Ponting was left stranded at the other end on 97 when the lunch break was called, but that was all just part of the build-up to the dramatic climax when play resumed.

Ponting prodded straight to mid-off and would have been run out by more than a metre had Zaheer Khan effected a direct hit, as the former skipper threw himself into a full-body slide to make his ground.

It was a horror day for India in the field on a brutally hot Sydney day and, by stumps, they were barely moving out in the middle.

Khan (3-106), Ishant Sharma (1-106) and Ravichandran Ashwin (0-103) each went for more than one hundred runs, while Umesh Yadav (0-94) went close.

Hussey's quick-fire half century at the death was beautiful to watch and was highlighted by an Ashwin over when he smashed four, four, six from consecutive balls.

- AAP