Clarke scores ton, Ponting 97 at lunch

Lunch Australia 3 for 236 (Clarke 103*, Ponting 97*, Zaheer 3-54) lead India 191 by 45 runs

Ricky Ponting played some classic pulls during his innings © Getty Images

Michael Clarke scored his 18th Test century and Ricky Ponting went to lunch three runs from what could be a drought-breaking hundred as Australia tightened their grip on the second Test in Sydney. The second morning was miserable for India, who did not take a wicket as Clarke and Ponting took their partnership to 199 runs and Australia's lead to 45 with seven wickets in hand.

The final few overs became a race to triple figures for the two batsmen but only Clarke made it in time. He brought up his fourth hundred as Test captain from his 136th delivery with a perfectly placed cover-drive for four off Ishant Sharma in the final over before the break and earned a standing ovation from the SCG crowd, who also wanted to see Ponting reach the mark.

However, they will have to wait until the second session to see whether Ponting can register his first Test ton in nearly two years, his last one having come at Bellerive Oval against Pakistan in January 2010. Ponting has had 33 Test innings since his last hundred but as he finished the session on 97 it appeared almost a formality that he would break the drought, such was his form against India's bowlers.

Ponting played some strong pulls, typical of him at his best, and on-drove well, and nearly sneaked a drive past Sachin Tendulkar at mid-on in the second-last over before lunch, which could have brought him his century. But Tendulkar was sprightly in his dive to his left to cut off what could so easily have been a boundary, denying Ponting his moment.

Both Clarke and Ponting played well all around the wicket, Clarke with cover-drives and clips off his pads, Ponting working the ball through gaps wherever they appeared. They were helped by some defensive field placements from MS Dhoni, who had a man back at deep square leg in the first couple of overs of the day when he needed to be on the attack.

At one point, Dhoni removed all of his slips while Umesh Yadav was bowling, seemingly a concession that all he could do was try to slow the run scoring of Ponting and Clarke rather than try to get them out. Australia moved into the lead with a wide bowled by Yadav and with the score at 3 for 236 at lunch, it had the potential to be a long, hot day in the field for India.