SCOREBOARD
Opener Watson capitalised on two reprieves and was unbeaten on 75 at the break after he and Ponting (71) had added 141 runs prior to a pair of breakthroughs late in the session for the hosts.
Mike Hussey is the other not out batsman at the tea interval, the middle order batsman yet to open his account.
In the morning, Zaheer Khan trapped Simon Katich leg before in the fifth over for six runs but Watson and Ponting, who had opted to bat first, denied the Indian bowlers any further success before lunch.
On a placid pitch that offered little bounce, the Australian batsmen continued to score freely after the interval until Suresh Raina ran out Ponting with a direct throw from mid-wicket.
The Australian captain hit 10 boundaries in his fluent innings but was soon joined in the pavilion by Michael Clarke who was caught by Rahul Dravid for 14 off the bowling of spinner Harbhajan Singh shortly before tea.
Watson, however, remained on course for a second Test century courtesy of some solid hitting and India’s poor fielding.
Virender Sehwag dropped a scoreless Watson in the first over off Zaheer and the aggressive opener got another reprieve on 37 when he edged a Pragyan Ojha delivery that popped out of Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s gloves behind the stumps.
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