Tendulkar closes on double ton in Bangalore
Sachin Tendulkar has guided India to a strong position in their second Test of the series against Australia, the 37-year-old bringing up a couple of milestones along the way.
Just 27 runs into his innings, Tendulkar became the first player to score 14,000 Test runs in his career – and if he’d stopped there the Aussies may not have been too perturbed by the Little Master’s latest entry in the record books.
But the ICC’s 2010 Player of the Year was not about to content himself with that. Resuming on day three unbeaten on 44, Tendulkar went on to bring up the 49th Test century of his illustrious 21-year career.
He now needs just one more to become the first player in Test cricket to score a half-century of centuries, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 skipper Ricky Ponting second on the list with 39 tons to his name in the five-day format.
While Tendulkar brought up yet another Test century, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Murali-Vijay-c78035 brought up his maiden ton in whites, before he was finally extracted on 139 as Mitchell Johnson struck twice in an over (also dismissing Cheteshwar Pujara for four) to end a 308-run wicket-less spell for the visiting side.
Tendulkar finally finished the day unbeaten on 191 – and if he can add those extra nine runs when play recommences tomorrow he’ll have converted century number 49 into the sixth double century of his Test career and be well on the way to chasing down his highest Test score of 248 not out, made against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 in December 2004.
For Ponting, the headache is how to claim the big wicket before he can do so, with Johnson (3-89) looking like the best bet at this stage of the match. The one bowler, however, that Punter will surely be less inclined to hand the ball is Nathan Hauritz.
After Ponting elected to hand the ball to Marcus North instead of his full-time off-spinner at the death in Australia’s loss to India in Mohali, Hauritz has done nothing to restore his captain’s faith with figures of 0-153 from his 39 overs in the current match.
While North with his 128 in the first innings of the match has done his Ashes chances the world of good, with young leg-spinner Steven Smith waiting in the wings, Hauritz’s position in Australia’s bowling attack appears to be looking increasingly shaky.
India will resume on day four on 435-5, only 43 runs adrift of Australia’s first innings total.
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