The Brabourne stadium, which was lifeless through the morning because of a wet pitch, caused by overnight rain, echoed in the evening with the booming drives off Matthew Hayden's bat.

The Australia opener scored a crisp 67, which was worth the wait for the big crowd that turned up at the ground on the first day of the three-day match between Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai and the touring Australians, on Thursday.

Australia ended the day on 159 for 3. Right-handers Damien Martyn and Brad Hodge were unbeaten at stumps, the former looking particularly impressive while scoring a composed 28 in 70 minutes.

Hodge was batting on six, after 18 minutes at the wicket.

Only 210 minutes of play was possible after the morning session was abandoned because of damp conditions.

Justin Langer started edgily and looked uncomfortable during his stay at the wicket. He struggled early on against Ajit Agarakar, who was able to extract some movement from the pitch.

Hayden, at the other end, quickly got into the hitting zone, driving a ball long and straight into the sightscreen.

The surprise that the Mumbai coach and captain had promised on the eve of the match was unveiled in the second over itself, when Ramesh Powar was introduced into the attack.

Hayden, who faced him first, was caught by surprise and took a while to read him. He even had a word with Langer before facing the off-spinner.

Though the move did not prove effective enough, Mumbai coach Chandrakant Pandit was happy that the strategy had the Australians thinking. The plan almost came off as Langer mistimed a sweep towards Agarkar, but the ball fell short of the fielder.

Agarkar tasted success straight into his second spell when he had Langer edging the ball to wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant. Langer was gone for 24 off the second ball after the tea break.

Sairaj Bahutule and Hayden were then involved in an interesting duel, with the leg spinner forcing a few false shots from the Queenslander. The Mumbai captain finally had the opener hitting the ball straight back into his hands.

Hayden collected seven boundaries and two sixes on his way to 67, which came off 82 balls.

Pandit later paid tribute to Bahutule, saying, "He always is an effective performer. Yes, he had a plan for Hayden and I am happy he was able to get the important wicket."

Simon Katich (30) and Damien Martyn (28 not out) kept the Australian ship steady and ran hard between the wickets. Though Katich was out to left arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni, Australia coach John Buchanan thought that the performance was "very encouraging" and the batsman may be sent in to bat at number three in the Test matches.

Buchanan said that the day had given his batsman "good solid time" of preparation.

"We will wait and see if it's a delayed start tomorrow as well. That will decide our strategy for the next two days," he added.

Teams:

Australia: Adam Gilchrist (capt), Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn, Simon Katich, Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee, Nathan Huaritz and Glenn McGrath.

Mumbai: Sairaj Bahutule (capt), Wasim Jaffer, Vinayak Mane, Vinod Kambli, Amol Muzumdar, Vinit Indulkar, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, Vinayak Samant, Avishkar Salvi and Nilesh Kulkarni.

Scoreboard

Australia (1st innings):
J. Langer c Samant b Agarkar 24
M. Hayden c & b Bahutule 67
S. Katich c Indulkar b Kulkarni 30
D. Martyn not out 28
B. Hodge not out 6.

Extras: (lb-1, nb-3) 4

Total: (for three wickets) 159

Fall of wickets: 1-69, 2-108, 3-146

To bat: A. Gilchrist, M. Clarke, S. Watson, N. Hauritz, B. Lee, G. McGrath

Bowling: Agarkar 10-3-23-1, Powar 12-1-56-0, Salvi 9-2-24-0, Kulkarni 9-2-22-1, Bahutule 12-2-33-1 (nb-3)

Mumbai: W. Jaffer, V. Mane, V. Kambli, A. Muzumdar, V. Indulkar, V. Samant, S. Bahutule (captain), A. Agarkar, R. Powar, A. Salvi, N. Kulkarni.