Pumped by his reprieve Andy Bichel whipped the heart out of the Indian batting line-up by removing star performer Sachin Tendulkar for one as Australia took a strong grip on the second Test at Adelaide Oval.

Staring at Australia's 556, the bulk of which came from Ricky Ponting's 242, India lost three wickets for four runs including the pivotal dismissals of Tendulkar (1) and captain Sourav Ganguly (2) within eight balls of each other.

Bichel, on the cusp of being dropped after his worst Test performance at the Gabba, was retained in the playing XI after the selectors decided to reward his unstinting commitment to the baggy green cause over the past 18 months.

The workaholic Queenslander didn't take long before he pulled a gem of a catch off his own bowling to remove Akash Chopra (27).

Virender Sehwag (47) then edged to a strategically placed floating slip, Matthew Hayden, before Bichel completed the bounce-back of the summer by tempting Tendulkar into a drive, which he nicked to Adam Gilchrist.

Bichel finished the day with 3-55 and said he didn't fear for his Test place after the "disappointing" effort in Brisbane.

He said there were also "off-field" events in his personal life that made it hard for him at the Gabba.

"I don't want to comment on those (events) but they did concern me at the time."

Tendulkar, the best batsman in the world, now has scores of 0 and 1 in the Test series and Bichel admitted he was "fishing" for Tendulkar's wicket by bowling a line outside off-stump where the Australians had identified him as vulnerable.

Ganguly was India's best performer in the first Test but he was run-out when indecisive over a second run.

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