V V S Laxman's 74 was the only saving grace for the Indians who were restricted to 208 for nine declared in their first innings by the Queensland Academy of Sports on the second day of the three-day cricket match in Brisbane on Sunday.

The touring Indians batted disastrously to finish their innings with a first innings deficit of 96 runs that was swelled further with the hosts having reached 79 for two in their second innings at stumps.

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly had said before the start of the game that it was difficult to achieve a result in a three-day game but the hosts have other ideas.

"We are looking to press the issue," declared Lee Carsledine, the first innings centurion, who was unbeaten on 31 in the second essay at close.

Starting the day at 17 for three, the Indians suffered an immediate blow when Ganguly was dismissed for six with the team total on 26.

Laxman then played an elegant knock of 74 runs from 150 balls in 217 minutes, which included 10 fours and a six before a delivery from off-spinner Chris Simpson hurried on to him and bent back his off-stump.

He jumped from 50 to 74 in a mere 11 deliveries as he opened out in the afternoon after digging in his heels in the morning session.               

Laxman shared a useful stand of 77 from 220 balls with Rahul Dravid, who made a neat 38 runs before tamely lobbing a catch at short midwicket off fast bowler Joe Dawes.

Laxman played marvellous drives through the offside and once even went down on his knees to smash off-spinner Simpson over the midwicket fence for six.

He had built up a swift stand of 42 runs from 43 balls for the sixth wicket with Sadgopan Ramesh (20) before his dismissal cut short what appeared to be a certain century.

Ramesh once again wasted a very good start by dashing down the wicket for a non-existent single and failed to regain ground after being turned back too late by his partner Parthiv Patel.

Patel (19) too was extremely positive in his short stay hitting four fours before he cut straight to deep point off Steve Magoffin.

Ajit Agarkar, playing his first match on the tour, contributed a valuable 18 before being dismissed by Magoffin.

The home team lost an early wicket when Chris Simpson (5) departed leg before wicket to Irfan Pathan but then they made good use of the remaining overs.

The home team had powered to a score of 79 for two by close with Carsledine (31) and Daniel Payne (35) sharing a second wicket stand of 67 runs in 72 minutes.

The Indians got something to cheer about at the fag end of the day when Payne fell leg before in the first over of part-time off-spinner Virender Sehwag.

Scoreboard:

Queensland Academy of Sports Ist Innings: 304-6 decl

Indians Ist Innings:
A Chopra c Carseldine b Bryant          0
V Sehwag c Hartley b Dawes              6
D Dasgupta lbw b Bryant                   0
VVS Laxman b Simpson                   74
S Ganguly c Hartley b Dawes             6
R Dravid c Le Roux b Dawes             38
S Ramesh run out                              21
P Patel c LeLoux b Magoffin            19
A Agarkar c Farrell b Magoffin         18
A Kumble not out                              8
I Pathan not out                                4

Extras: (lb-11, nb-2, w-1)              14

Total: (for 9 wkts decl, 73 overs)     208

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-7, 3-11, 4-26, 5-103, 6-145, 7-177, 8-102, 9-203.

Bowling: Joe Dawes 17-4-36-3, Scott Bryant 13-5-39-2, Shane Jergensen 12-5-20-0, Steve Magoffin 12-4-28-2, Chris Simpson 15-2-54-1, LeLoux 4-0-20-0.

Queensland 2nd Innings:
Daniel Payne lbw b Sehwag      35
Chris Simpson lbw b Pathan      5
Lee Carsledine not out             31
Aaron Nye not out                     2

Extras: (nb-2, b-4)              6

Total: (for 2 wkts, 22 overs)   79

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-73.

Bowling: Pathan 7-0-24-1, Agarkar 5-0-13-0, Balaji 5-0-28-0, Kumble 3-1-6-0, Sehwag 2-0-4-1.