Graveness of the situation didn't warrant anything silly and understandably, Gambhir curbed his natural aggressive strokeplay to some extent even though loose balls never went unpunished.

At the other end, Tendulkar was his fluent self, overtaking Gambhir in no time with some scintillating back foot shots that raced to the boundary.

Tendulkar hit Johnson for back-to-back boundaries to get into the groove but it was his copybook cover drive off Brett Lee, which stood out for its sheer precision.

The duo raised 130 runs for the third wicket to put the house in order but were separated in the last over before tea when Tendulkar perished caught behind off Johnson after an effortless 68 that came off 124 balls with 11 fours in it.

With Laxman determined to get some runs under his belt, there was no respite for the Aussies. And by then, Gambhir too was in his elements, even if his aggression spilt over on a couple of occasions when he got engaged in war of words -- first with Shane Watson and then with Simon Katich.

Once he broke into the 90s, Gambhir hit Johnson for two fours in an over to reach 99 and then brought up his third Test century in style, launching Watson over the long-on rope for the maximum.

Earlier, Amit Mishra retained his place in the Indian side as Kumble replaced injured off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Australia brought in seamer Stuart Clark in place of Peter Siddle while retaining their lone specialist spinner in Cameron White.