Australian duo blunt Indian push in Bangalore

With the visitors on 128-5, the duo enjoyed an unbroken 65-run stand to stretch Australia's lead to a healthy 263 as they reached 193-5 at the close.

Australia may declare overnight or allow their tail to sling the bat early today to push their lead past the 300 mark. Either way, the Aussies retain a slim chance of getting a positive result. Watson finished on 32, while Haddin is on 28.

Australia lost Matthew Hayden for 13 when he was trapped lbw by Zaheer Khan.

Ricky Ponting soon exited for 17, being caught by Ishant Sharma. Simon Katich, there from the beginning, hit a slow 34 off 140 balls before driving Harbhajan Singh into the hands of VVS Laxman. Michael Clarke (6) went for lbw off Zaheer and Mike Hussey (31) was bowled by Harbhajan.

Australia start on Monday hoping to maintain India's record of no wins in 13 years at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.