Adelaide, Jan 24: Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed two big wickets as Australia went to lunch at 98-3 on the first day of the fourth and final cricket test against India on Tuesday.

Ashwin, one of two changes to the Indian team that lost in Perth last week by an innings and 23 runs, took the important wicket of Ed Cowan (30) shortly before lunch when he had the opener brilliantly caught by V.V.S. Laxman at short extra cover.

Cowan and Ricky Ponting shared 53 runs for the third wicket after Australia slumped to 31-2 after winning the toss and electing to bat first.

Ponting was in brilliant form hitting seven boundaries in unbeaten on 43 with Michael Clarke on 8 at the break.

Australia began positively with 16 runs scored off the first two overs before David Warner, fresh from a career-best 180 in Perth, managed just 8 runs before falling lbw to left arm swing bowler Zaheer Khan in the seventh over of the morning.

Spin was introduced in just the fourth over and was rewarded immediately.

Two overs after Warner fell, Shaun Marsh failed again and lost his off stump to Ashwin after scoring three runs.

Australia made one change replacing left-arm swing bowler Mitchell Starc with offspinner Nathan Lyon for the spin-friendly Adelaide Oval wicket.

India, captained by Virender Sehwag, made two changes, bringing in wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha to replace the suspended skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ashwin for swing bowler Vinay Kumar.

Australia is looking to sweep the four-test series after winning the first test in Melbourne by 122 runs, followed by a victory by an innings and 68 runs in Sydney.

Temperatures of around 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit) have been forecast for the duration of the game, making the conditions more amenable to the Indian team.