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Symonds smashed 137 not out to help Australia reach stumps in a strong position at 376 for seven after they had slumped to 134-6 in the middle of the day.
Symonds unleashed his full power on the Indian bowlers, striking 17 boundaries and two sixes, but later admitted he was lucky because he had edged a catch behind off Ishant Sharma when he was on 30.
The Indians appealed confidently but West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor gave Symonds the benefit of the doubt.
"I was very lucky. I was out when I was 30, given not out," he told a news conference after the close of play.
"That's cricket though. I can sit here and tell you about my bad decisions as well, but I won't. That's the game. It's just one of those things."
Symonds had another let-off on 48 when the third umpire, Australian Bruce Oxenford, turned down a stumping appeal off Anil Kumble despite having the benefit of video replays.
The officials had already been in the spotlight after English umpire Mark Benson incorrectly gave the Australian captain Ricky Ponting out for 55, leg before wicket to Harbhajan Singh, but Symonds was quick to defend the umpires.
HUMAN ELEMENT
"You've got to keep the human element in there. It creates a different feel," he said.
"I don't think the game needs to go that every decision gets referred. There's ways to improve it, but let's not push and prod it too much. It's a great game. People make mistakes, players make mistakes every day, umpires make mistakes, too. It's how you handle them and how you keep going after those mistakes are made."
The 32-year-old Symonds hardly played another false shot after reaching his half-century, piling on 98 runs in the final session to get within sight of his highest Test score of 156.
"It's always a great feeling to score a hundred. It's a feeling of satisfaction," he said.
"But it'll mean more to me if we can have a good result in the Test and I can look back and I've contributed to a win."
Symonds said Australia's fightback was proof of their great battling qualities and they were now in a great position to go on and win the match.
"400 runs will be a very healthy first innings score. I suppose it puts us in a position where we hope we wouldn't lose the game from there," he said.
"If we bowl well and bat well again then we can put ourselves in a very good position to win the game. Australian teams have always pride themselves to fight back and show a bit of mental toughness and heart and this team is no different."
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RatingSymonds should have gone out of his own. When australians were in India last series During Australia's ODI tour of India in 2007, in a match which Murli Kartik and Zaheer won the match for India, Kartik nicked one to the keeper and the umpire didn't give it out. Ponting told during the presentation that Kartik should have walked.... now did Symonds walk???
Thas's right. The Aussies are great at telling others what they should or should not have done, but when they are in a similar position they will NEVER follow their own advice. They are the most unscrupulous team in world cricket today
Advantage of being the Captain of Indian cricket team.Kumble hogged all the end overs so he can suck easy wickets. Shameless guys did not care if they hit him for 4s or 6s, he knew they were easy wickets and umpires will give him easy LBWs because of denying Symonds wicket!!! Surely Kumble won't complain because he got two LBWs to his favour. This is how it all works. Ganguly, lesser said about him the better.I look at my friends kid and say, maybe a different place could give you better chance for your true worth. Devil has taken over some places
what matters is win, no morals, no gentlemens attitude in addmitting out.that is a_ssie
It was stupid to leave Pathan out. Kumble will pay for this by losing another match. Indian boys are good for playing inter-college matches and flirting with Bollywood actresses but are useless against professionals like Aussies. Every match will prove the same point. Indian boys are really sissies afraid of losing their good looks in case the cricket ball touches them.
It is very sad that bad umpiring ruined the Indians of having upper hand in the second test against Australia.After admitting by Symonds himself that he was out at 30 and was doubt again on his 48 runs respectively.Indians had really had victorious in the second test on the first day itself by morally. If they come out of the test victoriously in reality result Indians will be so satisfied having beaten twice by both mentally and in reality as well.It is not in players hand to take up the Umpiring responsibilities.The Indian players only can play honestly.Good luck Indians on the rest of the series.Take a challenge and play good cricket for the Indians to tell and good result will follow eventually.To prove all this score One and half times more than Australian total score in the Second test in SCG. Officially Australia ruined Indians in the series of the reality output of the result.
Since when did calling another human being a "Monkey" become offensive - especially on Cricket Grounds!!! ICC needs to not have a double standard where Australians and Englishmen are allowed to Sledge and say anything while we can't even merely point to the obvious fact that Andrew Symonds like the rest of us has monkey in his DNA. Let's be honest, Captain Ponting and Sissie Australians know that he can't bat against Harbhajan, this is just to put pressure on him. No Harbhajan, no problems for Ponting! With blind umpires, the Aussies can have the series. Ban these boys from playing in India
the third umpire is reffered only if australia appeals ! Australian series should have umpires from the subcontinent!let Symonds keep his mouth shut and not open debate about umpiring in the series, lest he will get exposed.
it is sad that the umpires and even the third umpires are goofing a lot with bad decisions. either we should do away with human umpiring and solely depend on the replay by the third umpire who again should be someone not belonging to the playing countries. Alternately, we can follow the same rule American Football follows, that is, grant the teams a set number of appeals for a third umpire review.
Aus-3 India - 0With a side full of has beens and a bunch of young pups who are all fire but no substance India is gonna get mauled by Aussies. Lets face it 20-20 was a trailer where luck can favour you. Playing pace for 2 full days on fast tracks is the real thing. Indians should put up or shut up. All crap about putting up a tough fight should be seen in the ground and not in new columns.
It is a national shame that the aussies have once again proved they cannot play the game in the right spirit...where is Billy bowlden? packed off? and that too replaced by steve bucknor who has always given wrong decisions against India..where will this all lead to? australia...in this manner you will not only win 16 in a row but 50 matches in a row...losers!
its always been such downunder.why cant third umpires be penalised for wrong decisions despite replay backup.
INDIA WILL DEFINATELY WIN THIS TEST MATCH AND BY AN INNINGS AND THAT BOY,RAVI HAS GONE MAD
Well, same old story - India will likely loose by an innings. This cricket is getting SAD!What was Kumble thinking - by choosing Jaffer and Ishant Sharma???????????? Why not bring in Irfan Pathan and Sehwag??????????????We will pay the price for his stupidity!
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