Dhawan struck his fifth ODI fifty off 43 balls to lay a solid foundation for India.
Openers Rohit Sharma and Dhawan brought up the Indian hundred in the 15th over after bringing up the fifty in the seventh over.
This is their sixth 100-run stand in the 19 innings that they have opened together.
The racy start came after Australian captain George Bailey won the toss and chose to bowl.
India have replaced Amit Mishra with R Vinay Kumar, while Australia have brought in Nathan Coulter-Nile in place of Mitchell Johnson.
This is expected to be another high-scoring game even though the pitch has tinges of green, but it's nice and hard. At some parts there is grass but that won't make much different. Good pitch for batting.
Australia, apparently, have the preparation for their Ashes series against England later this month as their main concern. They have consequently sent back their best bowler, Mitchell Johnson. The visitors' official line is that he has been asked to prepare for the longer duration matches, the first being a domestic tie starting Wednesday.
Whether this move is to lull the Indians into complacency or a sign that the Australians have given up on the series is unclear. But surely Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, who were both troubled by the pacy Johnson's bowling, will not be complaining.
While Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been on the ball in the opening overs, he has struggled like the rest in the second powerplay.
The other main bowler, off-spinner R Ashwin, looks lost without the additional fielder in the deep. To be fair, bowlers on both sides have looked out of their depth on these flat tracks.
Teams:
India: MS Dhoni (Capt.), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Vinay Kumar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami Ahmed.
Australia: George Bailey (Capt.), Phillip Hughes, Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, Glenn Maxwell, Adam Voges, Brad Haddin, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Faulkner, Clint McKay, Xavier Doherty.
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