Photographs: Reuters
Zaheer Khan gave India an early breakthrough when he trapped Simon Katich (6) leg before in the fifth over, on Day 1 of the first Test between India and Australia in Mohali on Friday.
The match started with a missed opportunity for the home team, as the other opener, Shane Watson, was the beneficiary of a dropped catch by Virender Sehwag at gully off the second ball of the day.
India's bowlers were more forceful in the post-tea session, claiming two wickets, as Australia ended the day on 224 for 5.
Shane Watson was unbeaten on 101 off 279 deliveries while Tim Paine survived, after being dropped by M S Dhoni at the fag end of the day, to finish with 1 off 14 deliveries.
Ponting leads Aus fightback
Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, who had earlier won the toss and elected to bat, though was unfazed by Katich's dismissal.
He and new-man in Shane Watson started finding their range and, soon enough, what followed was a string of good shots. They put up a 50-run partnership that came off just 64 balls.
Ponting got to his half century with a boundary off Pragyan Ojha.
It was his 53rd half century in Test cricket, his seventh against India, but only his third on Indian soil. He celebrated the same with successive boundaries off Zaheer.
Watson scores chancy 50
Watson survived two dropped catches -- first by Sehwag and then Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropped him off the bowling of Ojha -- to reach his 10th Test half century, his second against India, with a single off Zaheer.
Watson just in
Just before geting to his fifty Watson survived a run-out attempt, just making his ground.
Watson and Ponting attempted many cheeky singles and were lucky not to be caught out of their crease.
Raina checks Ponting's march
It was the 14th instance of him being run out, the most by any batsman in a series involving these two countries. Rahul Dravid, Allan Border and Matthew Hayden share the unwanted honour earlier, having been run out 13 times each.
Clarke falls to Harbhajan's turn
Australia lost a third wicket after the addition of another 18 runs, when Harbhajan accounted for Michael Clarke (14).
Clarke was caught by Rahul Dravid at first slip, the fielder taking a good low catch, his 197th in Test cricket.
Watson scores second Test ton
The Indian bowlers came back strongly in the post-tea session, but Watson defied them to score a deserving hundred, his second in Tests -- after the one he scored against Pakistan at Melbourne. He was the pillar around which Australia's innings was built.
It was his third successive century, which came off 266 balls, in this series, considering that he reached triple figures in both the innings of the practice game against the Board President's XI last week.
Zaheer's late strikes dent Aussies
Zaheer Khan ended the day on a high, claiming the wickets of Michael Hussey and Marcus North.
He trapped Michale Hussey (17) plumb in front of the wickets and then clipped Marcus North's (0) bails in the next over. He ended the day with figures of 3 for 45.
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