The conversation began on Monday with the announcement of George Bailey as captain of Australia's reshuffled T20 outfit. The Tasmanian has replaced his club skipper, Cameron White, despite averaging just 18 in the recent Big Bash League, with a top score of 33. White's form has been so awful it was always likely he would be axed, but Bailey's appointment remained a surprise. For obvious comparative reasons the moniker George Brearley circulated quickly.

Asked about the decision by Mark Nicholas on Channel Nine, Chairman of the National Selection Panel, John Inverarity, explained simply that, "the team is a better team for George being there and captain of the side."

Using similar reasoning, the Australian Test team is certainly a better team for Michael Clarke being captain, and he showed why in Adelaide on Tuesday. Richie Benaud once said that, "captaincy is 90 per cent luck and 10 per cent skill. But don't try it without that 10 per cent." In Adelaide the 90 per cent was winning the toss and having first use of a batsman's paradise, in temperatures exceeding 35 degrees. The ten per cent came steering his side from 3/84 before lunch to 3/335 at the close.

As skipper, Clarke has added much needed energy to a unit coasting towards ignominy under former leader, Ricky Ponting. His predecessor was a natural leader of men, but not a natural captain. He never seemed at ease with the tactical side of the game, favouring the routine over the proactive and the workmanlike over the inspired. Consequently, once the number of players capable of exceptional performances dwindled, so did Ponting's effectiveness. He could mind the shop, but he could not expand the business.

Clarke is different. He is a bundle of nervous energy - chewing, twitching, resetting his headgear. When batting, he frequently stops to wring out the sweat that has accumulated in the foam padding of his helmet. He's always doing something. As this transitional Australian side develops its own character, Clarke's sense of purpose benefits those around him.

The bowlers are obvious beneficiaries, as evidenced by revelatory performances from Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus. With the bat, David Warner has walked into the side, free to play his natural, carefree game. But perhaps the two biggest winners of Clarke's stewardship are Clarke himself, and the man he replaced - as the first day's play helped to explain.

India began the fourth Test under pressure to emerge from a disastrous series with some credit but they had to do so without talismanic skipper MS Dhoni, banned for one match for his part in India's consistently slow over rate. Virender Sehwag would be his replacement and after being asked to bowl by his opposite number the signs did not look good.

The stand-in was unperturbed though and his instinct gave India the upper hand early. By introducing Ravichandran Ashwin as soon as the fourth over, Sehwag becalmed a foreboding Warner. The opener's normally uncluttered mind became overcast by the unexpected development and by the seventh over he had succumbed to Zaheer Khan's guile. Before lunch Warner would be joined in the sheds by Shaun Marsh and Ed Cowan, victims of Ashwin's subtlety and persistence.

At 84/3, on a road, Australia required a partnership. It arrived in the form of another Clarke and Ponting special. It could have been a replay of Sydney.

The pair of right-handers looked in vintage form from the off. The key for both was how they used the full depth of the crease, playing forward and straight to anything full, and back and late to anything short. The Indian bowlers were unable to find anything close to a length, particularly Umesh Yadav who was guilty of being both too full and too short.

There was no sign of Ponting's overbalance to the off-side. There was only one instance of Clarke wafting aimlessly and dangerously outside his off stump. On that occasion the proactivity of skip Sehwag came back to haunt him. Where an orthodox first slip would have swallowed a routine opportunity, there was only an empty space into which a fly third slip could watch the ball sail harmlessly through. A difficult late chance was spilled by VVS Laxman, but the errant stroke was purposeful.

The pair put on 251 by the close and Clarke will spend the night unbeaten on 140, Ponting on 137. They have batted their side out of difficulty and into control.

As captain, Clarke averages over 62 in his 12 Tests, significantly more than the 47 when not in charge. He is thriving on the responsibility of leading his side, and leading them out of sticky situations.

After resigning, Ponting experienced a post-captaincy hangover, during which he failed to pass fifty in his first seven attempts. Since then, and since his successor and the new administration have stamped their authority on the side, he has passed fifty six times in nine innings.

Australia and its youthful captain now have four days to convert ascendancy into a whitewash. Dismissing India twice on such a flat wicket should present the greatest challenge of Clarke's summer but such is the tourist's disinterest there's a good chance Under the Southern Cross I Stand could be recited in victory on Australia Day. If that was to happen, it would be a fitting end to a series of complete domination.