Nathan Lyon claimed three wickets to break the back of India's batting as Australia reduced the hosts to 168 for five at tea on the first day of the second test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.

In a 16-over spell either side of lunch, off-spinner Lyon dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara, India skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane to jolt the home side's hopes of posting a big first innings total as the seek to level the four-match series.

Opener Lokesh Rahul remains unbeaten on a patchy 79 at the tea break with Ravichandran Ashwin five not out at the other end.

Kohli had a good start to the day when he won the toss and opted to bat but paceman Mitchell Starc soon had the hosts on the back foot when he dismissed Abhinav Mukund, a replacement for injured opener Murali Vijay, in the third over of the day.

Playing his first test in almost six years, Mukund's scoreless innings lasted just eight deliveries with the left-handed batsman completely missing a full toss from Starc to be given out leg before wicket.

After starting with an all-pace attack, Australia captain Steve Smith waited seven overs before handing the ball to left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe, whose 12-wicket haul in Pune helped the tourists cruise to a 333-run victory.

O'Keefe should have captured Rahul's wicket but Peter Handscomb dropped a low chance to his left at short cover to reprieve the batsman on 30.

Rahul played some loose shots during his knock but also entertained the sizeable crowd with some crisply driven boundaries off the fast bowlers. He was dropped again on 61 by David Warner at leg slip off Lyon.

At the other end, Pujara rarely looked troubled in his innings of 17 before he got an inside edge off Lyon onto his pads and this time Handscomb held on to the catch at short leg to end the 61-run stand in the last over before lunch.

Batting mainstay Kohli started strongly with two cover driven fours but he was given out leg before for 12 without playing a shot to a straight delivery and his attempt to overturn the decision on review proved futile. 

Rahane was out for 17, stumped by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade while Karun Nair, who replaced spin bowling all-rounder Jayant Yadav in the Indian team, fell for 26 in similar fashion to O'Keefe.

Australia named an unchanged side from the one that claimed victory in Pune.