The duo piled up the runs before the Indians luck changed when Akash Chopra caught Langer off Ashish Nehra's no-ball at square leg.

Adam Gilchrist, the next batsman in, was usually known to reply with a furious fifty or hundred, but he too, did not hang around for too long, as he lasted for four balls and did not trouble the scorers at all and departed for a duck with the scoreline being 276/6.

Jason Gillespie was distinctly uncomfortable during his stay at the crease as he was tested immediately by a few Ajit Agarkar deliveries before being run-out after attempting an over-ambitious fourth run to reduce Australia to 317/9.

Stuart MacGill, the batsman played an ugly shot, a clumsy sweep, which only succeeded in procuring an edge which ballooned to Akash Chopra at point.

To summarize the events that happened on that day, India closed at 362/6 from 105 overs, with VVS Laxman and the Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly helping themselves to some runs.

Laxman scored 75 runs from 113 balls with 11 boundaries, while Sourav Ganguly played the innings that defined the test match and made the day memorable for one and all.

Bucknor had already had a history of bad umpiring earlier in this match, overriding straightforward appeals against the Australian batsmen in their first innings, and this decision made things worse for him.

Rajan Bala also wrote in the Asian Age:"In an earlier birth Bucknor might have been one of those Roman emperors who ensured that the crowds at the Coliseum were kept in suspense before he gave the thumbs-down signal to end the life of a gladiator or a Christian."

[18] In fact, Ganguly's innings provoked humorous comments from the fans who suggested that his superb strokes were a result of him dining at the Taj Mahal restaurant, whose owner was a spectator.

He started to play some sumptuous shots off back foot, a few flicks with a delectable roll of the wrists, and a characteristic swivel-pull, which signalled that he was going to get a hundred as well.

[21] His end came unexpectedly and almost against the run of play, as he was out slicing a short and wide delivery of MacGill's to Simon Katich, leaving India at a healthy stage of 273/5.

The Indian openers however, started extremely badly, with both of them getting out in successive balls to Nathan Bracken, giving him a chance of bagging a hat-trick on his test debut.

[26] Match report Debuts: Irfan Pathan (India) First day The Adelaide Oval was a ground which had a flat pitch unhelpful for bowlers, and short square boundaries, which helped the Australian Batsmen, who were benefitted by their captain Steve Waugh's decision to bat first.

[28] When Ponting had added just six to his tally, Virender Sehwag dropped a chance at third slip off Pathan, and when he reached 12, a close lbw decision against him off Ajit Agarkar's bowling was turned down.

Ponting was moving sedately at a rather sluggish pace ever since he had reached 150, and seemed considerably slow before he broke off the shackles with two elegant and sweetly timed boundaries off Nehra in the 103rd over.

A textbook cover-drive, which in Ravi Shastri's opinion, had "good balance", then at 95/4, in the 25th over he hit two consecutive boundaries off Bichel, the former being a whiplash pull, while the latter was an on-drive which he played down the ground, while moving his feet well.

[37] Then, just when it seemed that Australia had to resign themselves to a long day, at 376/4 from 112.4 overs Laxman flashed a short and slightly wide delivery from Andy Bichel towards slips, where Ricky Ponting could not get his hands on the ball, and it went away through third man for a four.

As a respite for the Australians, on the last ball before tea, Laxman again decide to cut a good, rising delivery from Bichel, but managed to get an edge to Gilchrist, who had to stretch a little to take an impressive catch.

On one occasion, when Laxman drove Stuart MacGill through cover, Adam Gilchrist, exclaimed, "Aw, nice..." and then clapped his hands in acknowledgment of the shot, as it sped away to the boundary.

[41] However, the track seemed to aid spin-even Anil Kumble's legbreaks turned a great deal-Sourav Ganguly brought on Sachin Tendulkar, and the move immediately paid off.

Sachin Tendulkar, coming at the fall of the second wicket was under immense pressure as he had only scored a meagre 171 runs at an average of 19 in five tests that he played since December 2002.

MacGill, who had been until then, bowling from round the wicket, changed the angle and Tendulkar, failing to read a straighter one which pitched on middle-and-leg, offered no stroke and was given out lbw for a 59-ball 37, and the score was 149/3.

Parthiv Patel delayed the moment, getting bowled around the legs by Katich, but it brought together India's two heroes with the bat and ball, Rahul Dravid and Ajit Agarkar to the crease.

However, by lunch, they made 89 for no loss, and by then Sehwag had completed his fifty from 78 balls, with eight fours and one six, the latter being swung away inside-out above extra cover into the stands, off MacGill.

[50] Dravid's dismissal apparently did not hamper Sehwag's rapid progress, as he whipped a delivery to square-leg boundary with a flourish, off Brad Williams in the next over after the second wicket.

The Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly walked into the middle to join Sehwag, whose response to the two quick wickets was to just smash a MacGill delivery next over for a six above midwicket.

Sehwag's "buccaneer" spirit was praised much by Dileep Premachandran, who asserted that his 195 would be considered as one of the finest ever innings played in the opening day of a test match.

[57] He dominated Zaheer Khan, and Ajit Agarkar, taking advantage of their mistakes, but his batting against Kumble was a major concern, as he did not play him with certainty or with the assuredness he displayed against other bowlers.

From that point onwards, Australia executed their tactics well enough and did not employ over-attacking fields for VVS Laxman, the next batsman, knowing that he could score his runs freely anyhow.

Sehwag and Chopra stitched the runs with a definite uncertainty, as they were troubled by the swing and seam movement generated by Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie, the latter coming off an injury.