The likes of Ravindra Jadeja (70), Akshar Patel (87) and Mohammad Shami (37) made significant contributions.
After Australia’s first innings folded for a paltry 177 on Day 1 of the opening Test, the pitch criticism made more noise.
However, the hosts piled up a massive 400 on the same wicket to put the ‘doctored pitches’ allegations to rest.
While skipper Rohit Sharma set the tone with a stunning century (120) at the top, the likes of Ravindra Jadeja (70), Akshar Patel (87) and Mohammad Shami (37) returned with significant contributions to stretch India’s lead to a massive 223 runs.
Reacting to India's dominance engineered by the lower-order, former cricketer Ajay Jadeja said the hosts rubbed salt and lemon into Australia's wounds.
"The first two days were agony, they (Australia) were burnt and hurt. But today, in this first session, India rubbed lemon and salt into those wounds," Jadeja said on Cricbuzz while speaking after the first session on Day 3.
With the turn on offer on the Nagpur track, Ajay Jadeja feels India will register an innings victory.
"When they were bowled out for 177, I had said that I would be surprised if India are needed to bat twice. After the first session on Day 2, it looked like Australia were making a comeback but after Lunch the way India have dominated, it will also leave its impact psychologically on the Australians. The one little thing that went in Australia's favour was that Lunch was taken when the last Indian wicket fell, otherwise their openers would have had to rush in," he said.
Jadeja had special praise reserved for Akshar Patel for playing a crucial knock at No. 9.
"He has performed very well of late with the bat. The pitch is not that easy. The way Rohit batted, Akshar did the same. He made the wicket look easy. If Ravindra Jadeja took 30-40 Tests to come out as a batter, he has done it only in 3-4 Tests," he remarked.