Duo fire India effort

Sehwag made 63 before he fell victim to Brett Lee but Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 55 as the duo provided the backbone of an innings that looked shaky when Sourav Ganguly was dismissed in the afternoon to leave India 156 for four.

India won the toss and began in sprightly fashion and Irthan Pathan beautifully clipped Mitchell Johnson to the midwicket boundary off the first ball he faced, while Sehwag drove Brett Lee for four.

But Johnson after seeing Sehwag edge a streaky boundary through the vacant third slip area, managed to get one to leave Pathan off the pitch. The left-hander nicked the ball to Adam Gilchrist behind the stumps to depart for nine and leave India 34 for one.

The left-arm seamer then claimed his second wicket of the morning when he angled a ball across Rahul Dravid that found some extra bounce and the batsman edged it to Ricky Ponting to depart for a sluggish 18.

Sehwag brought up his half century off 68 balls that included six boundaries as India reached 89 for two at lunch before Johnson had a big shout for lbw against the batsmen turned down shortly after the interval.

At the other end, Tendulkar got off the mark with a glorious on-drive off Lee before stroking Johnson for three consecutive boundaries, the first through point to bring up India`s hundred.

Tendulkar then paddled Brad Hogg around the corner for four before Australia claimed a third wicket when Sehwag tried to cut Lee but a lack of footwork meant he only steered the ball to Matthew Hayden at first slip.

Tendulkar also escaped when he edged Lee between gully and second slip for four but then showed his class in dispatching Hogg over the mid-on boundary for six. However, Ganguly then fell lbw for seven when trying to sweep the spinner although he looked to be well forward.

That brought VVS Laxman to the crease and he got off the mark with a leg glance off Stuart Clarke before Tendulkar completed his fifty off 77 balls.