Perth, January 17:

Indian captain Anil Kumble claimed his 600th Test wicket but it was his unheralded pace attack that left the tourists in control of the third Test against Australia at the WACA on Thursday.

Kumble became the third bowler to reach the 600 mark when he removed Andrew Symonds but it was Irfan Pathan who did the top order damage. RP Singh then ran through the Australian tail as the home side were dismissed for 212 in reply to India’s 330 on the second day.

India were 52-1 at stumps, with opener Virender Sehwag on 29 and nightwatchman Irfan Pathan on two, giving the tourists an overall lead of 170. With close of play just minutes away, opener Wasim Jaffer’s miserable series continued when he fell to Stuart Clark for 11.

India squandered the good foundation provided by Dravid (93) and Sachin Tendulkar (71) when they collapsed from 328-6 early in the day, losing their last four wickets for only two runs in 17 balls.

However, Pathan (2-63) turned their fortunes around with a superb opening spell in his first Test of the series. Selected ahead of spinner Harbhajan Singh, Pathan trapped debutant Chris Rogers (four) leg before wicket. He then snared Australia’s other opener Phil Jaques (eight) as Australia slumped to 13-2.

RP Singh then had Mike Hussey (0) caught behind by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Skipper Ricky Ponting (20) was the next to go, caught by a diving Dravid in the slips off Ishant Sharma. Sharma (2-34) also claimed the wicket of Michael Clarke (23), before Symo-nds and Adam Gilchrist steadied the innings.

Symonds enjoyed plenty of good fortune. He was dropped by Tendulkar at first slip on three off Pathan and went on to score 66. He and Gilchrist (55) put on 102 to lift Australian hopes, before Symonds became Kumble’s 600th Test scalp.

Gilchrist took three boundaries off one RP Singh over, but the bowler had immediate revenge when the left-hander edged a sharply rising delivery to Dhoni. Australia’s tail offered little resistance and they lost their last five wickets for 49 runs, with RP Singh finishing with 4-68.

Kumble rounded off the innings by taking a simple return catch off Shaun Tait for his 601st wicket. Kumble trails only Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, with 723 wickets, and retired Australian Shane Warne, with 708.