Bengaluru, Oct. 11: The day belonged to the batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar. The 37-year-old notched up his 49th Test century, producing yet another masterclass, as he along with the other centurion, Murali Vijay, left the Australians clueless for the better part of Monday.

After the Indian batsmen denied the Aussies any breakthrough in the first two sessions of play, the visitors bagged three wickets in the final session to stay in the hunt. The third wicket stand between Tendulkar (191 n.o.) and Vijay (139) was worth 308 runs and ensured India were comfortably placed at 435-5, 43 short of Australia’s 478 on Day Three of the Test.

Earlier, it was a rare sight to see Tendulkar bring up his century with a six. After falling two runs short of a ton in the previous Test, he flew past the nervous nineties — 93 to 105 — by slamming two sixes off Nathan Hauritz.

With the Little Master looking in ominous touch, Vijay, at the other end, blossomed with a gritty maiden ton.

The way Tendulkar went about his batting was a lesson in itself for Vijay. Starting the day with 151 runs adrift of avoiding follow-on, the first aim was to deny the Aussies any success in the pre-lunch session.

Tendulkar came out aggressively, hitting boundaries at will sans any risk. The Australians concentrated on bowling wicket to wicket as the pitch offered little help but Tendulkar was using his wrists to fetch the fours. Most of his boundaries in the morning came in the square-leg region. And when the bowlers began operating on the off stump line, Tendulkar was up for the task, milking runs on the off-side too.

The field spread out once Tendulkar reached his hundred. While his first 100 contained 14 boundaries and two sixes, he hit only five boundaries in his next 91 runs.

Tendulkar now holds the record for most 150s after going past Brian Lara’s record of 19.

Meanwhile, Vijay also matched his senior partner with his conviction and the only time he looked in danger was on 77 when he was struck on the pads by Ben Hilfenhaus. It was a close call but the ball had hit him above the knee roll, which would have created a doubt in the mind of umpire Ian Gould.

Vijay appeared susceptible as he approached the three-figure mark and the Australians looked to take advantage of it. But in the presence of Tendulkar, who had a word with him at every possible opportunity, Vijay finally got past the nervous nineties in style.

The Australians finally got their breakthrough when Vijay edged Johnson to Tim Paine but by then, India had got into a position of strength. The Australians struck again to send back debutant Cheteshwar Pujara but Suresh Raina held fort to take India closer to the visitors’ total.

Pujara was unlucky to have got a ball that kept really low and was trapped right in front, and this may well be a hint of the way the wicket will behave in the next two days. The Australian ground fielding too was not up to the mark as they failed to cash in on a few run-out chances. Meanwhile, Vijay was reprimanded by match referee Chris Broad for breaching the ICC players’ code of conduct for sporting several advertising logos on his batting pads.

Scoreboard
Australia 1st innings 478

india 1st innings (overnight 128/2)

Murali Vijay c Paine b Johnson 139, Virender Sehwag c Johnson b Hilfenhaus 30, Rahul Dravid c North b Johnson 1, Sachin Tendulkar n.o. 191, Cheteshwar Pujara lbw b Johnson 4, Suresh Raina c Hilfenhaus b Clarke 32, Mahendra Singh Dhoni n.o.11.
Extras: (b-6, lb-15, w-6) 27
Total (in 122 overs) 435/5
FoW: 1-37, 2-38, 3-346, 4-350, 5-411.

Bowling: Ben Hilfenhaus 25-5-61-1, Mitchell ohnson 23-2-89-3 (w6), Peter George 15-1-38-0, Haurtiz 39-4-153-0, Michael Clarke 8-0-27-1, Shane Watson 7-0-28-0, Simon Katich 5-0-18-0.