Not far from the Chinnaswami Stadium pitch where Michael Clarke had just given 151 reasons why he deserved to retain his place in the side, makeshift Australian captain Adam Gilchrist was asked about the intriguing selection dilemma now facing the tourists.

Ricky Ponting will soon return to lead the Australian XI, meaning one of the batsman from the first Test must be dropped.

Before his century, and then some, that batsman was going to be Clarke, but a drastic re-think is underway after he produced the most impressive debut imaginable.

The question to Gilchrist: "Does Michael's innings make it hard, selection-wise, for when Ricky comes back?"

The answer from Gilchrist: "We've still got another innings to go here and we've got another Test match after that. Look, he's done everything that's been asked of him. One of the slight question marks we had over him was his ability so far in his first-class career to go and score big hundreds in extreme conditions.

"He's proved that totally wrong. He's made 150, not in the most stifling conditions ever but a difficult cauldron to come in to. He's just showed he's got the mettle to play at this level. They bowled beautifully to him in the 90s, they dried him up but he showed great character to stay true to himself and to what he had been doing all innings."

Clarke's ability to overcome the wild excitement of making a debut ton and push on to 151 after the departure of Gilchrist (104) was the most impressive aspect of an innings that stamped him as a Test player of the moment, no longer of the future.

Having rescued Australia from a potentially disastrous 4-149, he kept going for another hour with previously unseen maturity to ensure Australia reached a commanding total of 474.

"That was my highest first class score and something I wanted to achieve," said Clarke, whose previous first-class average of 37.67 portrayed a player who made a lot of decent starts without capitalising.

"I wanted to score a 150 for NSW this year, but fortunately enough I was out here playing against India."

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