Ricky Ponting was in sight of his second century of the series at tea on the first day in Adelaide, where Australia rebuilt strongly after losing three wickets in the opening session. Ponting and Michael Clarke batted through the second session without much trouble and at the break, Australia had reached 3 for 335 with Ponting on 137 and Clarke on 140.
Clarke knew when he won the toss that the Adelaide Oval surface would be wonderful to bat on, but the loss of a couple of early wickets gave India hope. Australia were 2 for 31 after losing David Warner and Shaun Marsh, and the departure of Ed Cowan shortly before lunch meant the first session belonged to India, but things quickly changed in the afternoon.
On a scorchingly hot day, the Indians lost their spark in a hurry and their cause was not helped by the captain Virender Sehwag, in charge because of MS Dhoni's suspension for poor over rates, setting fields that didn't back the bowlers. On 36, Clarke chased a wide delivery from Ishant Sharma and edged to where first slip should have been, but Sehwag had the fielder floating at second slip instead.
Such generosity was followed by the removal of all slips as the partnership wore on, and it wasn't clear how India planned to take a wicket. It was also hard to imagine Ponting gifting them one; he was in better touch than at the SCG, where he made a drought-breaking hundred earlier this month, and he scored all around the wicket.
In the first session he played three classic Ponting strokes, a punchy straight drive, a searing pull and a back-foot drive through the off side. All were perfectly timed and all ran away to the boundary, and after the break the runs kept coming with lofts off the spinners, crunchy drives and ones and twos that kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Ponting also passed 13,000 Test runs during the afternoon, a milestone that brought a subdued bat-raise and a shake of the hand from Clarke. By tea, the Clarke-Ponting partnership had reached 130 and India had to hope it wouldn't turn into the kind of monstrous stand the two men put together in Sydney.
Clarke brought up his half-century by lofting R Ashwin over mid-on for a boundary and he followed with three boundaries in an over from Ashwin, all through the off side, as runs flowed easily for the Australians. It was a disappointing turnaround for India after their success in the first session, when Sehwag showed some tactical nous by introducing Ashwin within the first 15 minutes.
His intention was to keep a check on David Warner, who had launched Umesh Yadav back over his head for an all-run four in the second over of the game. Warner was keen to go after the fast men but was more hesitant against the spin, and while it was the Zaheer Khan who trapped Warner lbw for 8, Sehwag's move had ensured Warner stayed quiet.
Ashwin added a breakthrough of his own when he pushed a ball through the big gap between bat and pad left by Shaun Marsh, who was anticipating spin and missed a straight one. The ball clipped his off stump and Marsh was out for 3, continuing his horror series and perhaps giving John Inverarity's selection panel an easy decision when Shane Watson returns from injury.
Ponting and Ed Cowan steadied with a 53-run partnership, both men keen to keep the scoreboard ticking, but a lapse in concentration on 30 ended Cowan's innings. He drove Ashwin straight to short cover and it was a soft dismissal, especially coming as it did within a quarter of an hour of the lunch break, on a pitch promising plenty of runs.
After lunch, Ponting and Clarke showed Cowan what he was missing.
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