But while Laxman remained at the crease, India would not give up hope. Importantly, he was scoring his runs quickly and at the break he was on 48 with Ishant Sharma on 14 and only Pragyan Ojha left for further support. The pair had added 38 and the home team required 54 more runs to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy before the second and final Test in Bangalore.
India began the day needing 161 runs and for an hour they were cruising, as Tendulkar and Laxman brought the target down with a rapidity that alarmed Ricky Ponting. Nathan Hauritz had picked up the night-watchman Zaheer Khan, caught at slip, but was leaking runs and when he conceded 14 off an over, Ponting knew the fast men were his only option.
Cheers went around the ground as Tendulkar passed 1000 Test runs in a calendar year for the sixth time in his career, and it seemed that he was destined to deliver India to victory. But his desire to score quickly brought his undoing, when he tried to cut Bollinger over the cordon to the vacant third-man region.
The ball was too close to his body and he steered it to gully, where Michael Hussey grabbed the sharp chance. Tendulkar was gone for 38, and the atmosphere cooled down slightly as the runs began to dry up. Then came the second big moment of joy for Australia, when the presence of a runner cost MS Dhoni his wicket.
Laxman drove Bollinger to mid-on and his runner Suresh Raina took off for what should have been a comfortable single. But Dhoni appeared confused by Laxman remaining in his crease and the hesitation was enough to give hope to the fielder Hilfenhaus, whose superb direct hit at the striker's end finished Dhoni's stay on 2.
When Bollinger's fast, well-directed bouncer had a fending Harbhajan Singh caught at slip two balls later, Australia were in control. But with help from a defiant Ishant, Laxman kept going about his task and ensured that at lunch, the match was far from decided. It will be a tense meal-break for both teams.
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