Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag tilt advantage towards India

Throughout their careers, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag have ensured that boring is never used to describe Test cricket. When they ‘play’ with bowling attacks, it is entertainment at its best. On the second day of the first Test between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Tuesday, it was total entertainment from the duo.

While Sehwag was unapologetic about his decimation of the attack, Tendulkar was a purist’s delight. The music flowed from Tendulkar’s bat as he hit the ball to the fence with meticulous ease. Tendulkar hit the first ball from Peter Siddle after the tea break over the slips for a six. He followed that with an on-drive for three runs. Two overs later, there was another upper cut that went between third slip and gully. The shot was almost an afterthought, but was executed with perfection. The next ball was a glorious cover drive to the fence. Sometime later, sensing the true nature of the wicket, Tendulkar hit another ball over the slips in the vacant third-man region. 

It was as if Tendulkar had decided to keep hitting the ball there like he did during his innings of 155 against an attack comprising Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Nantie Hayward on a bouncy pitch at Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 2001. Then Indian coach John Wright rated that knock as the best he had seen in Test cricket.

At the MCG, Tendulkar was at his vintage best before being bowled for 73 (98 balls) by Siddle, just three balls before the umpires called stumps. Yes, he missed out on his 100th international hundred again, but such has been the obsession about that milestone that anything less than a century (56 and 91 in England; 76 and 94 against the West Indies at home) leaves the spectator dissatisfied. This was as good a knock Tendulkar has played in his career and has put India in a strong position.

Earlier in the day, Sehwag (67 off 83 balls) rode on his luck (he was dropped thrice) and provided the ideal platform for the middle-order batsmen — something India missed on their tour of England. At the other end was Dravid (68 not out), not at his fluent best, but fighting it out, true to character. His 75-run partnership with Sehwag and 117-run stand with Tendulkar has tilted the advantage in India’s favour. A hundred from him today and significant contributions from VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni will help India tighten their grip on the game.

The Australians will have to hold on to their catches and show a lot more aggression to counter the Indian batsmen. Their inexperienced attack has been exposed by a robust Indian batting lineup. Barring James Pattinson and Siddle (he clean bowled Dravid off a no-ball late in the day) who bowled well in patches, there was little contest between bat and ball.

Also, Australia cannot expect part-timer Michael Hussey to take wickets. The captain must back his frontline bowlers with strong fields. As Australian vice-captain Brad Haddin said on Tuesday, “We will look to shut down the Indian innings and try to create chances.” That is their only chance of making inroads into the Indian batting. Otherwise, as the sun beats down on a lovely MCG pitch today, the Indian batsmen will add to Australia’s misery by piling on the runs