The first to go was Tendulkar, who was caught plumb in front of the wicket by a smart slower ball from Jason Gillespie. The little master, who after blazing start had become too cautious for his own good, was dismissed for 36 off 59 balls.

Two runs later, India slipped deeper into the mire when Dinesh Mongia had the mortification of seeing his uppish drive pouched by a diving Andrew Symonds in the covers.

With the score at 80/7 at that stage, Harbhajan Singh walked out to the middle only to be promptly greeted by a vicious bouncer from Brett Lee.

But after negotiating that safely, Harbhajan later went on to have some of his own back, backing away and hitting Lee for a four and a six off successive balls. While the four was more a result of a fortuitous edge, the six was a more authentic shot with Harbhajan backing away and slashing the ball over the third man fence.

After this welcome spurt of entertainment, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble settled down to play a few quiet overs against spinners Brad Hogg and Darren Lehmann.

However, Harbhajan was soon back at doing what he does best, hitting boundaries. Hogg was cut for four and then smashed to the long-off fence off the next ball. The left-arm chinaman bowler from Australia, though, had the last laugh when he trapped Harbhajan in front with a ball that turned in sharply.

Next man Zaheer Khan's stay was short and uneventful, trapped in front by Lehmann after he had made 1 off 9 balls. And he was soon joined by last man Javagal Srinath, dismissed for a duck, run out by Darren Lehmann at point. India, then, were dismissed for 125 in just 41.4 overs.

If the need of the hour was for India's big stroke-makers - Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag - to dominate the Australian bowling and wrest the psychological edge right away, that plan went horribly awry.

India's start was slow, with Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee keeping Ganguly and Tendulkar quiet. Tendulkar did get in one blissful cover drive off Brett Lee, but then India lost the plot with Ganguly's dismissal. Feet going nowhere, the Indian captain slashed at a wide ball from Brett Lee and was caught behind easily by Adam Gilchrist for nine.

Virender Sehwag started with a clipped-off-the-toes four, but he too fell in a similar manner to Ganguly, poking at a wide delivery to touch another catch through to Gilchrist.

The situation almost worsened immediately as Lee had Rahul Dravid edging to slip, where Damien Martyn put down the chance. Dravid did not last much longer, however, trying to force Jason Gillespie's first delivery to the offside and chopping onto his stumps.

Things seemed to be going Australia's way as Ricky Ponting's gamble of keeping McGrath on for an extended spell paid off when he had Yuvraj Singh adjudged leg-before courtesy umpire Asoka de Silva. Yuvraj, on seeing the replays, may consider himself unlucky, the ball seeming to miss leg-stump as McGrath bowled over the wicket to the left-hander.

Mohammad Kaif, woefully out of form in recent times, perpetuated his streak with a loose pull shot off Gillespie, sending the ball soaring over the infield to Symonds, who ran in from his square leg position on the ropes to take a fine catch diving forward full-length.

Throughout all this, Tendulkar continued to play impeccably, rarely tempted into the big strokes and finding the gaps as only he can. He was deprived repeatedly of the strike, however, as his compatriots found themselves hard-pressed to even stay at the wicket, let alone take singles.

Dinesh Mongia, coming in at number seven, looked more comfortable than his predecessors, pulling Symonds for four to square leg and playing the ball according to merit. At the 25-over stage, however, India were still in the mire at 73 for five, with Tendulkar on 34 and Mongia on 10.

India, moreover, will count themselves lucky to have won the toss. Sourav Ganguly had no hesitation in opting to bat on a wicket that looked dry and full of runs.

Another external factor that may affect this game is the weather; Centurion experienced heavy rain last night, and that may yet affect this match later in the day, although cricket fans will certainly be hoping for a full-length game.

India go into this game with an unchanged side from their tie against the Netherlands. With Darren Lehmann and Michael Bevan fit and ready to come back into the side, Australia have had to drop Ian Harvey, despite his fine performance against Pakistan. Like India, they thus go in with only four bowlers, relying on part-timers to make up for the fifth bowler's quota.

Teams

India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Dinesh Mongia

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann, Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Brad Hogg, Glenn McGrath