Rahul Dravid marked his return to form with a gritty 93, but India gifted a couple of wickets late in the day as Australia came back strongly in the third cricket Test in Perth on Wednesday.
Electing to bat, the visitors handled the extra bounce of the WACA track with aplomb but the late dismissals of Dravid and VVS Laxman in quick succession tilted the scale slightly in favour of the home team.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan negotiated four overs with the second new ball to remain unseparated as India reached 297 for six at stumps on the opening day, which saw no unsavoury incidents on the field.
Sachin Tendulkar continued his good run with the bat, scoring a sparkling 71, but the Indians had themselves to blame for not finishing the day on a healthier position as both Dravid and Laxman got out to poor shots.
The visitors were cruising along comfortably at 278 for four but the complexion of the game changed in the last 20 minutes with part-timer Andrew Symonds bagging the scalp of Dravid and Brett Lee accounting for Laxman (28).
The pre-match hype surrounding the WACA pitch, regarded as the fastest in the world, came a cropper as the track did not have disconcerting pace or bounce to really trouble the Indians.
India got the best start of the series, with Virender Sehwag (29), coming back into the series after sitting out the first two Tests, and Wasim Jaffer (16) putting on 57 runs for the first wicket. Dravid and Tendulkar then consolidated the position for the team with a 139-run partnership.
Brett Lee was the most impressive of all Australian quicks, claiming 3 for 64, and turning the day on its head after India appeared to be in control.
Lee first dismissed a dangerous-looking Tendulkar though umpire Asad Rauf seemed to have misjudged the height of the delivery while ruling him leg before wicket.
This dismissal came at a critical time as Tendulkar and Dravid had put on 138 runs in nearly three hours of resolute batting.
Then, with shadows lengthening, Lee returned with the second new ball to claim Laxman who made an ungainly pull and was caught at mid-off by Tait.
Lee had earlier accounted for his bunny Jaffer, who fell to the express speedster for the fifth straight time in the series.
Jaffer, along with opener Virender Sehwag, had given India a rollicking start, with 50 raised from the first nine overs of the innings.
Sehwag, like Jaffer, fell to a catch behind the stumps with Mitchell Johnson making the initial breakthrough.
Dravid had no one but himself to blame for making an ugly slog against Andrew Symonds and lobbing a catch in the covers.
He not only denied himself a century and wasted his five-hour effort, but also exposed the new man Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the second new ball, just a couple of overs away.
Dravid, who batted for 276 minutes and hit 14 fours from 183 balls, was lucky to have been reprieved early in his innings when he was dropped at first slip by Michael Clarke off Lee.
Tendulkar batted for 128 balls and 173 minutes and hit nine fours during his impressive knock before being undone by Rauf.
Australia met with another success when left-handed Sourav Ganguly (9) guided Mitchell Johnson to the second gully Mike Hussey.
Sehwag, in the first session, slammed several fours on the off-side and appeared to have seized the upper hand when he cut a lifting delivery into Gilchrist's hands.
India quickly overcome the setback when Dravid was joined by Tendulkar, welcomed to the ground with a standing ovation by a nearly packed WACA ground.
Tendulkar, playing in WACA for probably the last time in his glittering career, played a gem of an innings where he deliberately tipped several strokes over the slip cordon.
Tendulkar unleashed several spectacular strokes in the afternoon, none better than the late tip which he executed on a Lee bouncer that hit the pickets over the slips heads.
He hit four such hits to the boundary and completed his half century with one such shot off Shaun Tait, having batted for 91 balls and hit eight fours.
Dravid too made several pleasing drives in front of the stumps and flicked with unerring accuracy.
The century stand between the two was up just before the tea break when Dravid drove Symonds into covers for a brace.
Dravid reached his half century with two fours in one over off Andrew Symonds, the second one a glorious off-drive that beat two fielders in the cover region.
The biggest disappointment for Australia was not only the WACA pitch but also the form of fast bowler Shaun Tait.
Tait was heralded as a wicket-taking machine before the match by captain Ricky Ponting but he was the easiest to negotiate for the Indian batsmen.
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