By IANS
Sydney : Sachin Tendulkar’s 38th Test century helped India to a 69-run first innings lead here Friday and put a question mark over Australia prolonging their uninterrupted winning streak beyond 15 matches.
The hosts ended the third day of the second Test at 13 without loss in the second innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Along with Tendulkar, who remained 154 not out, India’s tail-enders frustrated the Australian attack to take their score to 532 in reply to the home team’s 463.
Australian openers Matthew Hayden (5) and Phil Jaques (8) played out the five overs before stumps.
On Friday, it was Tendulkar all the way. He batted for close to seven hours over two days facing 243 balls to hit 14 fours and a six. It was a solid knock and the tail-enders justified his faith in them by responding responsibly. He got a standing ovation from a sizeable crowd for a splendid effort in scoring his third hundred and followed V.V.S. Laxman who made 109 here Thursday.
The master blaster scored his first hundred at the SCG when he was just 18 and has a staggering average of 326 here. He has four hundreds here, more than anyone else in Test cricket.
Tendulkar should thank Harbhajan Singh for his hundred. The spinner made 63 in a record 129-run eighth-wicket partnership against Australia. Similarly, Tendulkar’s 150 came due to the presence of last man Ishant Sharma, who dominated a stand of 31.
Even Brett Lee could not rattle the tail-enders on a pitch that is getting slower and lower, though the paceman toiled to return with his eighth five-wicket haul.
On Friday morning, however, he was all fire with the second new ball which saw India lose four wickets for 52 runs and slump to 345 for seven, leaving Tendulkar on 69 with the tail.
Resuming today on 216 for three, thanks to the platform provided by Laxman and his 175-run stand with Rahul Dravid, India lost Sourav Ganguly for 67, a soft dismissal when he was looking good, caught at mid-off by Mike Hussey off left-arm spinner Brad Hogg.
Yuvraj Singh was the next to go for 12, the left-hander looking in all sorts of problems both against spin as well as pace, before being leg before to Lee.
Lee struck again soon after lunch, removing Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2) and Anil Kumble (2) in successive overs, both caught behind by Adam Gilchrist who in the process became the second wicketkeeper in Test history to get to the 400-dismissal-mark following South African Mark Boucher’s 408.
India were in danger of conceding a hundred-plus lead when Harbhajan walked in. The Australians could not apply much pressure as all-rounder Andrew Symonds seemed to have hurt his ankle and did not bowl. Then Ponting had to call Michael Clarke to turn his arm over and the part-time left-arm spinner, who had six wickets for nine runs against India in the Mumbai Test on Australia’s last tour of the country, was a tad unlucky not to have got Tendulkar plumb in front of the wicket.
Australia lead the four-Test series 1-0, having won the first Test in Melbourne by a massive 337-run margin. If they win here they will equal their own record of 16 victories on the trot.