Sachin's fortytude

India reach 311 for five at stumps on Day One after Sachin Tendulkar hammers his 40th century

NAGPUR: 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 on 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 hosts 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 on 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.