The birds -- kites, to be precise -- hovering over the M Chinnaswamy stadium in search of prey, resembled the plot in the middle.

Ricky Ponting [Images] walked out to bat in the first over of the first Test between India and Australia [Images] on Thursday, and the Indian pacers, much like the birds, were in full flight, hoping to gobble him up early. Matthew Hayden's [Images] early dismissal boosted them, and Ponting, who had a poor record in India, seemed another easy prey.

• Scorecard | Images from Day 1 | Report

But the Aussie approached the task at hand with a clear mind. He shunned his natural attacking game and just looked to protect himself. Having weathered the initial storm, he paced himself nicely to post a maiden century on Indian soil and give Australia a good start.

• Statistical highlights Day 1

The delight was clear, the relief evident, as he spoke after the day's play.

"It was very satisfying, a very satisfying achievement. My record in India has been poor and it is no secret. Yeah, I had to prove a point to a few. This is my first hundred in India and it was as satisfying as any hundred and, hopefully, there will be a couple of more hundreds around the corner," he said.

Australia's captain led from the front with a fighting knock of 123 that saw the team post a decent 254 for 4 on the opening day. He believes it is a good score, on a pitch that is getting slower by the hour.

"250-plus for four is a good score on the first day considering the wicket was a bit slow and they had kept the sweeper on the fence and at square; so there was not much boundaries to be scored. But we have [Shane] Watson and [Cameroon] White coming in and, I think, we should get some good runs on the board and I am looking forward to the events on the second day," he said.

The right-hander also tried to rub some salt into India's wounds by saying that their former coach Greg Chappell [Images] is turning out to be a big help for them in this tour.

"Greg's inputs have been good; he was a top-class player in his time, a great, and his inputs on batting technique have come handy; it is good to have him part of the set-up," he said.

He revealed how he overcame the demons of India by working on his technique. Coming into the tour, Ponting had stressed how desperate he was on making it count in what could be his final tour to the country, where he had, before this match, scored just 172 runs in eight Tests at 12.28.

"I have played Harbhajan [Singh] and [Anil] Kumble many times over the years and I guess I am getting used to them. Out here I backed my defensive technique and did not put any extra pressure on myself.

"My record here has been poor and I have been working hard and doing my best to rectify that. I have been working hard on getting a game plan and a technique in place over the last couple of weeks since we've been in India to give ourselves the best chance of having of some success here," he said.

Zaheer Khan [Images] made a vital difference for India, claiming the wickets of

Hayden and Michael Clarke [Images] in the first and last over of the day respectively. But Ponting still believes that his team can post a big first innings score.

"We managed to solve that really well through the end of the day and the last two wickets in the last half hour was a little disappointing for us. We still have a bit of batting to come and hopefully the rest of the guys in the order can get some partnerships on the board and get us to a nice total," he said.

Australia also resorted to defensive tactics, especially in the first

part of the day, as they took nearly 40 overs to cross the 100-run mark. Ponting, though, said the slowness of the wicket combined with India's defensive fielding placements made it difficult to score freely.

"I don't think we were that defensive today. The Indians had a few guys out on the fence pretty early in the day so a lot of boundary-scoring options were taken away from us. It wasn't a pretty good wicket to score on, there was not much bounce and there wasn't much pace either," the 33-year-old said.

He also made it clear that he felt the caught-and-bowled appeal against him when he was on 110 off Anil Kumble [Images] was rightly turned down by the umpires.

"When I hit it, I hit on the full and I thought it will dribble to Anil, but the next second I saw him take it inches off his face and I felt something wasn't right; I couldn't figure that out but I think it hit the ground; I hit it on the full," he claimed.

The century has, no doubt, given Ponting the belief that better times are in store for him. He is hoping to count on the good start and make up for his previous failures in India.

"Today is one step in the right direction and it's nice to get the team to a good position. But one innings doesn't make a tour. There are a few more innings on this tour and, hopefully, I will get some runs again," he said.