It was once again a case of so near yet so far for Sachin Tendulkar while India hurtled towards an innings defeat at the hands of Australia.
Scoreboard
The match, as it happened
Australia humbled India by an innings and 68 runs in the second cricket Test to take an unassailable 2-0 lead as Sachin Tendulkar missed yet another opportunity to get the century of international centuries in Sydney on Friday.
India lost the first Test at the MCG by 122 runs and now for the second successive time they have lost with more than a day to spare. They have now suffered the ignominy of losing as many as six consecutive Test matches on foreign soil.
Resuming at 114 for 2, India were all out for 400 with 25-odd overs of the fourth day's play still remaining.
There were as many as four half centuries in the Indian innings ——— Gautam Gambhir (83), Sachin Tendulkar (80), VVS Laxman (66) and Ravichandran Ashwin ( 62) — yet none produced a gritty effort which could take the match into the fifth day.
Tendulkar again came close to the historic milestone of 100 international centuries but was dismissed by part-timer Michael Clarke to break a few million Indian hearts.
Even though the visitors chalk up 400 runs in their second innings, 114 runs came for the last three wickets by when the match was as good as over.
Ben Hilfenhaus ripped the heart out of India's batting, claiming Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as his victims for figures of 5 for 106.
Peter Siddle took 2 for 88 while James Pattinson, Michael Clarke and Nathan Lyon shared the other three wickets.
The two teams will now travel to Perth for the third Test beginning January 13.
The morning session had promised some rearguard action by the Indians as 129 runs accrued for the loss of a solitary wicket of Gautam Gambhir.
Teams
India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni (c) (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.
Australia: James Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle, Michael Hussey, Nathan Lyon, David Warner, Ed Cowan, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (c), Brad Haddin (wk).
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