Ricky Ponting's 104 runs helped Austrlaia reach 260/6 in the quarterfinal match against India at Ahmedabad on Thursday. Earlier, MS Dhoni chose to press a spin-pace combination into service with the off-spin of Ashwin and spearhead Zaheer Khan after Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. Australian openers Brad Haddin and Watson approached the innings cautiously for a start but slowly opened up their shoulders to pick up scoring. Zaheer was forced to bowl from around the wicket early in his spell after an official warning in his very first over for following through in the danger area on the pitch. Haddin and Watson looked settled after a cautious start of 40 in the 10th over but Ahswin was able to find a way through Watson's defences to bowl him after he had scored 25. Ricky Ponting strode in as Watson fell and Dhoni probably let a chance to attack the out-of-form Aussie skipper go by as he brought in Munaf Patel to bowl who was hit for 13 runs, including three boundaries by Haddin.