Dighe appeals for lbw against Waugh

But their partnership lasted only six overs before Waugh missed an attempted sweep to a ball from Harbhajan and palmed the ball away as it appeared to be going towards the stumps.

Ricky Ponting was stumped second ball by debutant Sameer Dighe for nought and Harbhajan then trapped Adam Gilchrist lbw for one to leave Australia on 344 for six.

Gilchrist's dismissal meant he had score only a single in three innings since his brilliant 122 off 112 balls in the first Test at Mumbai.

Warne kept Hayden company in a seventh wicket stand of 30, even though he did not contribute a single run himself.

He was eventually caught at short leg by Das off Harbhajan, who followed that with the wicket of Jason Gillespie two runs later.

Hayden continued his progress towards 200 and eventually made it off 309 balls, with six sixes and 15 fours.

But Colin Miller became Harbhajan's sixth victim and the 20-year-old finished things off by having Hayden caught in the deep after batting for seven hours and 54 minutes.

Spinners ineffective

Indian openers Das and Sadogopan Ramesh survived the new ball burst from Glenn McGrath and Gillespie, so Waugh turned to Shane Warne and Colin Miller.

Laxman continued where he left off in Calcutta

The two batsmen greeted the spin duo with positive strokeplay as Das reached his half century off 85 balls, with eight boundaries.

Ramesh lost little by comparison, although his fifty took 108 deliveries, as they shared a partnership of 123.

Warne eventually broke through when Ramesh was caught by Ricky Ponting for 61, but the arrival of Laxman merely resulted in an increase in the scoring rate.

Laxman made 281 in the second Test, an innings which turned the game on its head and led to India's astonishing 171-run victory.

He was quickly into his stride with some flowing strokes as he gathered most of his runs in boundaries.

His half century took just 52 balls and included 10 fours, three of them in one over from Miller, who bowled 18 overs for figures of nought for 64.

Warne ended the day with one for 73 from 20 overs.