It wasn't just the batting but the way Gilchrist and Symonds went after the bowlers that would have brought a few more creases to the brows of the team think tank.

In recent times the pitch at Perth has not been reputed to be as fast and bouncy as in the past but try telling that to the Indians who found that not only had the wicket plenty of bounce but the movement that Lee, Gillespie and Williams got off the pitch was much more than anywhere else on the tour so far.

It did not help that both Tendulkar and Sehwag had been out of cricket for some time and though Sehwag was his usual swashbuckling self the little champion found the bounce a bit too much to cope with.

The ball that got him was a beauty and the catch also was taken splendidly.

Laxman, all along this tour, has not sparred at the rising delivery around the off stump and has thereby eliminated the one shot that has got him into trouble in the past.

Unfortunately here he brought the perishable shot out and was consumed by Gilchrist behind the stumps.

That wicket was a great boost to the Australians and Lee in particular for he has been clattered all over the ground by the Indians especially Laxman.

Dravid's promotion was to steady the innings and give it more stability but he too fell after some vigilant batting.

It was only Yuvraj who combined sensible batting with some fine counter attacking strokes and looked the most comfortable of the Indian batsmen.

The lower order batsmen then added valuable runs and would surely have embarrassed the earlier batsmen by the ease with which they batted.

Having said that they were not playing Lee who had finished his spell and a hard new ball and Gilchrist's charitable move in bringing non-regular bowler Hussey and keeping Symonds on did help the lower batsmen.

Still with the score going past 200, when 150 would have been a bonus after the first five wickets went down cheaply, would have given the Indians the belief that if they bowled well and got early wickets they could spring a surprise.

Unfortunately Laxman of all fielders missed a catch off Gilchrist before the Aussie captain had opened his account and the skipper then lay about the Indian attack in his inimitable fashion.

Two superb catches by Rohan and Laxman in one over from Agarkar gave India the hope that they were in business but Symonds after a watchful few deliveries beat the ball savagely and hit sixes.

The partnership took Australia on the brink of a victory that allowed newcomer Hussey to play himself in and get some confidence in his first appearance for Australia.

There will be the usual discussion after this defeat whether India should have fielded first but on a similar sort of pitch in the finals of the World Cup India were hammered by the Australians and so Ganguly would have thought it better to defend rather than chase a total.

Recent matches have shown that India bat better first without the pressure of the chasing target and scoring rate.

India gets the chance to get their confidence back in the last game against Zimbabwe on the same pitch in a couple of days and they have to win that game in the same manner as the Australians did to get them in the right frame of mind for the finals.