Tendulkar notches up 40th Test century as India recover

S S Ramaswamy

Nagpur, Nov 6 (PTI) Sachin Tendulkar gave glimpses of his
vintage form by cracking his 40th Test century which had
eluded him for long as India recovered from early jolts to
push for a big total in the fourth and final cricket Test
against Australia here Thursday.

The 35-year-old Tendulkar stole the limelight with a
flurry of strokes and capitalised on two dropped catches to
pull the team out of the pits and steer the visitors to a
comfortable 311 for five at close on the opening day.

Electing to bat, the Indians were cruising along
comfortably at 98 for no loss but lost three quick wickets in
the span of 18 runs to slip to 116 for three just before the
lunch break with rookie spinner Jason Krejza scalping the
prized wickets of Virender Sehwag (66) and Rahul Dravid (0).

But Tendulkar performed the salvage job alongwith the
stylish VVS Laxman (64) as the experienced duo put on a vital
146-run fourth wicket partnership to bring the hosts back into
the game on a flat track at the newly-built VCA stadium.

Sourav Ganguly was batting on 27 and captain Mahendra
Singh Dhoni was on 4 at stumps on the opening day which saw
both teams more or less sharing the honours.

It was a huge relief for Tendulkar who had gone without a
century for the last 15 Tests and faced some anxious moments
before completing the milestone.

The champion batsman had his share of luck as he was
first dropped by Mitchell Johnson when on 85 and then by Brett
Lee on 96 and faced some nervous moments before completing the
century, his tenth against the Australians. His last century
had also come against the Aussies -- 153 in the fourth and
final Test in Adelaide in January this year.

But Tendulkar could not last long after completing the
century as he was trapped leg before by Mitchell Johnson with
the second new ball at the fag end of the day.

The Indians, leading the four-match series 1-0 and
needing only a draw to wrest the Border-Gavaskar Trophy,
scored at a brisk pace right through the day and would now
look to consolidate their position when play resumes Friday.

Virender Sehwag, who struck nine fours and a six in
making a quick-fire 66 off 69 balls, and debutant Murali Vijay
(33), included in the team in place of banned Gambhir, put on
98 runs for the first wicket on a bone-dry wicket before the
visitors struck three telling blows to bounce back in style.

Debutant off-spinner Jason Krejza struck twice by
removing out-of-form Rahul Dravid for a duck, and then cut
short dangerous-looking Sehwag's innings by turning the ball
sharply after Shane Watson drew first blood by getting Vijay
caught behind fending at a short, rising ball.

Struggling Dravid was caught off his glove at short leg
off a sharply spinning Krejza delivery.

The hosts, looking to adjourn for lunch without losing a
wicket, suddenly plunged to 99 for two in the space of six
balls and were in deeper trouble when Krejza made a ball turn
sharply into Sehwag who leaned back to cut it but only managed
to chop it on to the stumps.

India lost three wickets for 18 runs in less than five
overs to hand Australia the upper hand at lunch.

However, the first hour of play belonged to India as the
two openers raced to 70 without loss in 13 overs.

From the start, the pitch played true to batsmen and the
ball came on nicely to the bat. Australian bowlers, barring
first-change Shane Watson, could not get any appreciable
movement.

Sehwag played in his usual fashion with slashes, chops
and flicks off the pads to get runs while debutant Vijay,
pitch-forked into international cricket after having played
only 21 first class games, looked composed and compact in his
defense.

Sehwag struck Johnson for two boundaries in his first
over while Vijay, who showed hardly any nerves, cover-drove
Lee beautifully for a four to set the tone.

Aussie captain Ricky Ponting brought in Krejza just on
the hour, replacing Watson after two overs to enable the
medium-pacer to change ends, and Sehwag greeted the new bowler
with a lofted four and a huge six over long on off successive
balls.

Sehwag completed his second half century of the series
with a single to square leg off Krejza in 45 balls.

Tendulkar and S Laxman ensured that India came back
strongly into the game in the post-lunch session as the two
experienced batsmen fetched the runs easily.

Commencing after lunch, Tendulkar and Laxman, who is
playing his 100th Test, were kept quiet for a while by pacer
Mitchell Johnson and debutant off spinner Jason Krejza.

After settling down, Tendulkar -– 16 at lunch -- began
opening out by slog-sweeping Krejza and then lofting the slow
bowler for two successive fours to bring up the 150. The first
hour after lunch yielded 44 runs in 13 overs.

Laxman struggled with his timing iitially despite having
come into this match with unbeaten scores of 200 and 59 in the
third Test at Delhi.

Tendulkar, at the other end, was fluent as ever and
completed his third half century of the series, and 52nd of
career, in 65 balls with a couple to deep cover off Krejza.

Tendulkar thus overtook Allan Border of Australia in the
number of plus-50 scores in his career – 91 (including 39
tons) as compared to the former Australian captain's 90.