Tendulkar's 49th century grinds Australia down

[DesiGuy]

Only a man blessed with immense powers of endurance could sustain a 20-year Test career and Sachin Tendulkar displayed exactly that quality on a day of Indian dominance in Bangalore. Tendulkar batted through the day, along the way recording his 49th Test century and helping to steer M Vijay to his first, as India all but demolished Australia's first-innings advantage.

Tendulkar finished the day unbeaten on 191 and MS Dhoni was on 11, and with India requiring only a draw to win the series, there was no need for Dhoni to consider a declaration. How Ricky Ponting would love to have called a close to India's innings himself, after a day on which his attack looked toothless and failed to make a breakthrough until 3.21pm.

When they did, they quickly made it two. Vijay's edge behind off Mitchell Johnson was followed four balls later by the departure of the unlucky debutant Cheteshwar Pujara, who was padded up for more than six hours only to be greeted with skidder from Johnson, who trapped the new man lbw for 4.

Suresh Raina made 32 before he drove Michael Clarke to mid-off late in the afternoon, but by then India were within sight of Australia's first-innings 478. They had Tendulkar and Vijay to thank; their third-wicket partnership began on Sunday afternoon, stretched until after tea on Monday and was worth 308 runs. Both players batted wonderfully well, barely giving Australia the sniff of a wicket.

Tendulkar moved to 99 with a slog-swept six off Nathan Hauritz and repeated the stroke to move into triple figures while offering the spectators at long-on a catch. Nobody has scored more Test hundreds than Tendulkar, who celebrated his seventh in the past year with his usual bat-raise and glance to the heavens, but without any major display of emotion.

Vijay witnessed the ease with which his senior partner raced through the nineties but found it not so simple himself, and was stuck on 99 for more than 20 minutes. The Australians tried to dry up his options with short balls and when he eventually pushed a quick single to cover, he leapt for joy and was embraced by Tendulkar, who had started his Test career when Vijay was five years old.

In those two decades, Tendulkar has had only one year - 2002 - better than his vintage efforts of 2010, which earned him the ICC Cricketer of the Year award last week. He continued that form by handling all of Australia's bowlers with supreme comfort, racing to triple figures before lunch after he had started the day on 44.

Tendulkar pulled Johnson for consecutive fours, sliced Shane Watson over cover with ease and respectfully kept out the most consistent of Australia's bowlers, Ben Hilfenhaus. But the harshest punishment was saved for Hauritz. Even Shane Warne failed to mesmerise Tendulkar and in comparison, he found Hauritz easier to read than a cheap paperback.


India v Australia 2010: Sachin Tendulkar's 49th century grinds Australia down | India v Australia, 2nd Test, Bangalore, 3rd day Report | Cricket News | Cricinfo.com

 

[JanjaWeed]

poor aussie cricketers are paying for their fellow countrymen's whining about at CWG!!

 

[mehboobkz]

Tendulkar reached his century with two sixes off Nathan Hauritz. He has reached a century with a six on five occasions.

 

[DesiGuy]

BANGALORE: The stats would have you believe that this is the best Sachin Tendulkar has ever batted. And for once, the stats may well be right. On Monday, Sachin posted Test century no. 49. It was his sixth in the calendar year, the most by any Indian ever. And it took his aggregate for the year so far to 1194 runs at an average of - hold your breath - 99.5. Indeed, the only word to describe his form is Bradmanesque (the Don, remember, had a career average of 99.94). And India will play at least five more Tests in 2010.

On Monday, Sachin finished at 191 not out. And if Dhoni and the tail hang around, who's to say 300 is out of reach? On Sunday, he had passed 14,000 Test runs, taking just 12 innings to race there - the fastest he has ever gone from one 1,000-run mark to the next.

But the stats, staggering though they undoubtedly are, don't tell the full tale. They fail to capture the utter serenity that Sachin now radiates like an aura while he's at the crease, the sense of inevitability that accompanies yet another big score. Indeed, watching him in action now reminds one of nothing so much as a martial arts grand master, achieving maximum impact with minimum effort.

In fact, the numbers that really make you marvel are 5, 3 and 1. Those were the respective ages of Murali Vijay, Pragyan Ojha and Cheteshwar Pujara when Sachin debuted in Tests. They now play with him, but Sachin still has the passion of a rookie.

On Monday, as Vijay battled his way to his maiden Test century, Sachin Tendulkar handed out yet another batting masterclass. The concentration didn't waver for a moment, the hawk-like patience was intact. These qualities were best exemplified by how he dealt with a slow bouncer from Peter George that never arrived. Tendulkar saw the ball early, started to duck but because he had his eyes on the ball, was able to defend at the last minute as the ball rose less than expected. It had to be seen to be believed.

All this despite the fact that he wasn't exactly up against a world-class bowling unit which may have motivated him to perform harder. The wicket too wasn't a testing one and so it would have taken some effort to buckle down, which he had to do in the circumstances given Australia's imposing first-innings total.

Then again, the Tendulkar of the last two-three years is a much-changed batsman, and definitely more consistent. Where he used to have three to four options for one ball, now he is prepared to wait for the loose ball.

He plays far straighter these days, thus closing that little gate between bat and pad that had seen him get bowled on more than a few occasions. He does bring out the magnificent on drive once in a while but far less frequently than before.

On one other aspect though, he has taken the other route, thanks to someone who wasn't anywhere near being born when Tendulkar took his bow in international cricket. Having got out quite a few times in the nervous 90s, he was advised by his son to try and get there with a six, a la Virender Sehwag. On Monday, he got there with two of them, first to move from 93 to 99 and then on to 105.

So what's next? Well, there's 15,000 Test runs to get, 50 Test centuries, 100 international centuries. All landmarks that once seemed impossible, all now seemingly within touching distance. But first, how about a triple?


At 99.5, Sachin Tendulkar's 2010 average matches Don's - The Times of India