Aussie in the crowd manages to achieve something no Indian player could in second Test at Adelaide Oval

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Frustrated Indian players trudged off Adelaide Oval on Friday night unable to make the breakthrough they were hoping for, but one Aussie fan managed to achieve what they could not. 

Under-fire Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne and rookie Nathan McSweeney managed to survive the graveyard shift under lights in Adelaide to steer the home side to a strong position heading into day two.

With the wolves at his door, Marnus Labuschagne picked a fight with the biggest and baddest of them all.

The struggling Australian batsman strode on to Adelaide Oval against India with his Test career on the line.

Then he baited Jasprit Bumrah.

Amid a stretch of low returns - eight scores under 10 runs in his previous nine innings - Labuschagne's spot was openly in question as he walked out to bat in the second Test against India.

This Aussie fan stopped play late in the day by walking across the sight screen with a beer snake

Aussie batsman Marnus Labuschagne saw the humour in the situation but Indian bowler Siraj was left fuming

But Labuschagne (20no) and Test novice Nathan McSweeney (38no) won the Friday night battle under Adelaide Oval's lights, guiding Australia to 1-86 in reply to India's 180 all out.

There was one bloke who managed to get under Labuschagne's guard, though. 

The unnamed bloke carrying a massive beer snake made of empty beer cups that forced him to back out as Indian bowler Mohammad Siraj steamed.

The fan had decided to make his dash across the top of the sight screen, but Marnus was more bemused than agitated by the distraction.

''He's had a good day,' former England captain Michael Vaughan laughed in commentary.

While the Aussies could see the humour, Siraj was left fuming.

'Siraj, not happy. You don't often see a fast bowler when he gets stopped just about before he releases the ball,' former Aussie batsman Greg Blewett said on Channel 7. 

Pre-match, Labuschagne's captain Pat Cummins forecast Labuscgagne would be more proactive in a bid to emerge from his form slump.

But not even Cummins would have predicted this.

Labuschagne had a huge day for the Australians after rebounding from the Perth disaster

Labuschagne went directly and theatrically into a duel with the world's No.1 fast bowler, Bumrah.

The Indian strike bowler - with a pink ball moving appreciably under lights - had just taken a wicket but was nearing the end of his spell.

Bumrah delivered one drama-charged over to the out-of-sorts Labuschagne.

The Australian played a defensive shot and shouted 'wait on' as the ball rolled to Bumrah, daringly eyeballing the Indian star.

Bumrah sent down a searing next delivery which beat Labschagne's outside edge - the Australian again eyeballed the paceman as Indians chirped in the background.

'The heat is on, this is fierce Test cricket and Marnus isn't taking a backward step,' Australian great Adam Gilchrist said in commentary for Fox Sports.

'It's like a boxing match, Marnus is saying 'come on',' Gilchrist's commentating colleague, former England captain Michael Vaughan, added.

Labuschagne survived the over. The Queenslander - whose previous nine knocks were three, two, six, 90, two, one, five, three and one not out - faced 18 balls before scoring a run.

Labuschagne congratulates McSweeney as the duo take control of day one for the Aussies

He inside-edged his 19th delivery for two, leg-glanced for four two balls later, then scored three through midwicket.

Labuschagne and McSweeney, who played some sweet pull shots in his third Test innings, put Australia in a position of power entering day two.

'It was a good way to finish the day,' said Australian paceman Mitchell Starc, who took a career-best 6-48 in India's innings.

'The last session is arguably the hardest time to bat ... for Marnie and McSweeney to fight through that sustained pressure from a quality bowling attack and come out the other end with a chance then to go on tomorrow (Saturday), it was fantastic from them.'

Starc then added, pointedly, that the pair's performance came with 'obviously a fair bit of outside noise, particularly from this (media) room'.