Sachin Tendulkar smashed his 49th Test century and Murali Vijay his first as India matched Australia’s batting prowess in the second and final Test yesterday.
Australia managed just three wickets as the hosts took their overnight score of 128-2 to 435-5 by stumps on the third day at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
India, who lead 1-0 in the short series after winning the first Test in Mohali by one wicket, are 43 runs away from Australia’s 478 with five wickets in hand.
PHOTO: AFP
Tendulkar finished the day unbeaten on a monumental 191 and opener Vijay scored 139 during a record stand of 308 for the third wicket — a remarkable recovery from 38-2 in Sunday’s last session.
It was the highest third-wicket partnership in India-Australia Tests, surpassing the 222-run stand between Aussies Allan Border and Kim Hughes in Chennai in 1979.
Tendulkar, the world’s leading batsman who also has a record 46 one-day hundreds against his name, slammed 19 boundaries and two sixes in his seven-hour vigil at the crease.
The Mumbai-born batsman, who started the day on 44 and was stuck in the 80s for almost 45 minutes, reached his century by smashing off-spinner Nathan Hauritz for two sixes over long-on.
Vijay, playing in the Test only because Gautam Gambhir was ruled out with a knee injury, languished for an hour in the 90s before reaching his maiden hundred with a single midway through the afternoon session.
The opener, who was reprimanded by match referee Chris Broad for breaching the players’ code of conduct for sporting several advertising logos on his batting pads, hit 14 fours and two sixes.
Australia went wicketless in the first two sessions before they struck twice in one over from fast bowler Mitchell Johnson soon after the tea interval.
Johnson had Murali edging a catch to wicket-keeper Tim Paine, before he trapped debutant Cheteshwar Pujara leg-before with a ball that kept alarmingly low.
Suresh Raina (32) had put on 61 for the fifth wicket with Tendulkar when he drove Michael Clarke to mid-on where Ben Hilfenhaus took a low catch.
Tendulkar reached his 58th Test half-century in the day’s first over with two boundaries off Hauritz.
At the other end, Vijay drove Johnson through the covers to bring up the 100-run partnership with Tendulkar.
Vijay survived an anxious moment when he was on 49 as he charged down the wicket, but a direct throw from Hauritz narrowly missed the stumps.
The duo scored 60 runs from 14 overs in the first hour, but an accurate spell from debutant fast bowler Peter George after the drinks break slowed down the run-rate.
The lanky South Australian gave away only 12 runs in his five overs in the morning session.
Hauritz was the most expensive Australian bowler with 0-153 from 39 overs, while Johnson took 3-89 from 23 overs.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later