Clarke, Smith dampen India's day

For all the emotion, uncertainty, pain and tears that had carried to that point, the moment that Michael Clarke stood poised to complete the crowning century of a career so starkly rewritten by circumstance, it demanded a grander theatre.

Instead of warming sunshine, a euphoric full house and suitably symbolic numerology, Clarke bent his busted back once more over his bat as India's fastest bowler, Varun Aaron, began his approach beneath a sky so slate grey it seemed that Adelaide's historic first day-night Test had arrived a year early.

The crowd that was shocked but delighted to see the incapacitated captain appear in the morning gloom to resume his innings curtailed the previous day by a serious back injury had dwindled due to rain delays that allowed just 14 overs to be bowled in the day's first five hours.

And the pre-emptive clapping that accompanied Aaron as he ran in to complete the first over after the second lengthy hiatus echoed heavily among the partially filled grandstands.

Not even chirpy English umpire Ian Gould's attempt at levity, as Aaron belatedly advised he would resume his attack on Clarke – just one well-placed nudge short of his hundred – from around the wicket, to enable a more unfriendly line for the obvious bouncer to follow.

"Michael, change of plans," Gould chortled in his Cockney brogue. "A bi' of Bodyline."

But Clarke could have been batting in the otherwise empty indoor sports centre that his father ran and in which his childhood passion for sport was fuelled, such was the intense focus and steel will that had carried him to the brink of milestone that so many events had conspired to prevent.

The battle with his hamstring and other equally unforgiving bodies to prove he would be fit to lead his team into the summer's opening Commonwealth Bank Test against India.

His extraordinary, spirit-sapping proximity to the passing and the mourning of his special mate and sidekick Phillip Hughes, that rendered the prospect of him playing all but irrelevant.

Then, having negotiated those emotional and physical hurdles to lead his team and his nation as he had done so tellingly over the previous fortnight, the stab of pain in the back that forced him to shuffle from the field, a broken figure, accompanied only by uncertainty as to when and how he might return.

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Clarke and Smith leave Adelaide Oval for the day's third rain delay // Getty Images

That the 33-year-old was able to walk to the crease when Australia resumed at 6-354 represented yet another tribute in a match already brimful with them.

That he departed just a few deliveries before bad light put a final halt to today's play with 128 against his name as the only Australian wicket to fall on a day they lifted their score against a dispirited India to 7-517 was not much short of a miracle.

Not only a credit to Clarke's stoicism in the face of adversity, but another feat from the team's medical staff who tended to the skipper into the wee hours of Wednesday morning in the seemingly laughable pursuit of having him bat later in the morning.

Injections, painkillers, massage, stretching and whatever else was deemed worth a try was administered to tackle what Bupa Support Staff physiotherapist Alex Kountouris described prior to play as a "serious injury".

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Clarke stretches in the nets before day two // Getty Images

Just how serious was painfully obvious as Clarke, a hefty, unwieldy back brace clearly visible beneath his shirt that proudly bore Hughes's Test number, faced up to the three deliveries India's Mohammad Shami would deliver to complete the over left unfinished from last night.

After the second, Clarke took a few slow steps away from the pitch with the pain etched deep in his sallow face, and then drew a gasp from the still disbelieving crowd when he flashed reactively at the next ball that narrowly missed his bat's edge.

Both his limitations and his intentions were fully revealed in Shami's next over when a short, wide gift was sent scorching to the point boundary with not a hint of footwork and even less mercy.

The fact that a false stroke followed soon after, as he attempted an awkward pull shot to the first intimidatory short ball aimed at him for the day, might conceivably have convinced India to relentlessly target the Australian captain's head and shoulders with close catchers in wait around the bat.

But instead, it seemed the tourists had absorbed the sentiments Clarke had eulogised at his mate's heart-wrenching funeral service the previous week.

That the game Phiilip Hughes so loved must listen and learn from his spirit.

So perhaps it was that new-born spirit of cricket that had convinced India's attack, armed with a second new ball barely 10 overs old and in heavy, fast bowler-friendly conditions, from peppering a rival whose capacity to evade, defend and run to the safety of the other end was severely compromised.

It could be why, after the day's first rain intervention brought about an early lunch break and 70 minutes lost, the resumptive delivery was a gentle loosener from Aaron that Steve Smith was able to nonchalantly knock into a leg-side gap to reach his century.

That milestone triggered a lengthy celebration from the man many have already nominated to be Clarke's captaincy successor, as he took in a succession of deep breaths, walked halfway towards the dressing room, thrashed his bat in the air and looked skyward while standing next to the 408 inked into the turf.

As he was with yesterday's century maker, David Warner, Clarke was fittingly there at the other end to offer a hug of congratulations and consolation, in the stiff, ungainly manner of a spinster aunt due to the restrictions imposed by his back brace, and his back.

But the moment did not sway the skipper from his purpose.

He refitted his grimace, narrowed his eyes and set off once more in laboured pursuit of the 15 runs that now stood between him and an achievement that had grown far bigger than a milestone score, or the required tribute to a fallen friend.

To have come so far, to have negotiated so much meant that failure to reach that mark had become as unthinkable as the scenario that confronted him when he raced to St Vincent's Hospital on that awful Tuesday afternoon 15 days earlier.

For all the scores he has amassed through skill, courage, good fortune and longevity, this was to be an innings hewn in its totality from pure, unshakeable will.

Having swayed from the path of consecutive 'Bodyline' bouncers, Clarke's moment came six balls after the afternoon delay of almost two hours when he nudged to fine leg off his left hip and made the tortured trek through for that single that took him to cricket's previous magic number.

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Clarke salutes his 28th Test century // Getty Images

The damp Adelaide Oval flags hung limp, the patient souls who had waited hours for this moment stood for another round of prolonged applause and, even if his body had been up to it, Clarke was unlikely to have performed any elaborate ceremony to mark the moment.

Wracked by pain, wrung of emotion, he simply removed his protective helmet, kissed the Australian Coat of Arms above its peak and politely acknowledged the crowd's appreciation for a long journey bravely completed.

Less than 30 minutes later, the heavens again wept and the Clarke made his third halting walk to the team dressing room in as many days.

By the time he returned, began again, saw his union with Smith surpass 150 and ultimately surrender his wicket to a sweep shot he could surely not have countenanced playing when he awoke from his fitful, pain-interrupted sleep this morning, the game was in Australia's keeping.

Whether he leads them on to the field when they undertake their defence of their huge first innings total tomorrow will be decided by time, medical intervention and his capacity to rouse his tired, aching body for one more round of battle.