Brisbane, Australia: Murali Vijay made the Australians pay for a dropped catch Wednesday, scoring an unbeaten 46 to guide India to 89-1 after the opening session of the second cricket test.
Vijay struck six boundaries, including a flat-batted swipe off Josh Hazlewood, and shared partnerships of 56 with Shickhar Dhawan (24) and an unbeaten 33 with Cheteshwar Pujara, who was unbeaten on 15 at lunch.
Allrounder Mitch Marsh took his first test wicket, in his fourth test, to break up the opening stand when he had Dhawan caught behind slashing at a wider ball in the 14th over.
His older brother, Shaun Marsh, put down a chance low and left at third slip in the next over from Mitchell Johnson, when Vijay was on 36 and India's total was 60-1.
Australia won the first test by 48 runs at Adelaide on Saturday and was relying on the pace and bounce of the Gabba pitch to reap early wickets after India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat on a clear, warm morning.
But the Australian bowlers generally didn't hit the right length and, apart from Hazlewood beating the edge in his first test spell and Pujara getting an inside edge just past his stumps just before lunch, the Indian batsmen handled the conditions comfortably.
Steve Smith, filling in as captain for injured Michael Clarke for the rest of the series, rotated through five bowlers in the first session searching for more wickets.
Both teams made three changes from Adelaide. Dhoni returned for India after missing the first test with a thumb injury, while Shaun Marsh replaced injured Clarke in the Australian lineup and fast bowlers Hazlewood and Mitch Starc replaced Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle.
