Indians collapse after Sachins miss.
When Sachin Tendulkar got out for 98 millions of his fans felt disappointed as a century was there for his taking in his pursuit of 100 centuries in international cricket but little would have they thought that his dismissal would have turned the match and that is what exactly happened.
When Sachin Tendulkar was batting on 98 he was 2 short of what would have been his 49th century and 95th in international cricket and India were cruising at 4 for 354 in 95.2 overs but his dismissal sparked a collapse in which skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had a big hand. When Sachin Tendulkar fell leg before to part timer Marcus Northafter having forged valuable partnerships of 79 with Rahul Dravidand 124 with SureshRaina Indians still had the upper hand with the likes of V V S Laxman and M S Dhoni to follow. Skipper M S Dhoni came ahead of V V S Laxman who was nursing a back injury and immediately went after the bowlers and though M S Dhoni connected a couple of big ones of which one went over the fence one really could not understand M S Dhoni'slogic in going after the bowling at that point of time. With India 75 odd shy of a lead M S Dhoniand with 13 overs left in the day M S Dhonishould have looked at playing a risk free game so as to enable India to reach closer to Australian total and with wickets in hand should have launched an assault on the Aussie bowlers on the fourthday so as to declare the innings closed by lunch with a lead of about 125 to 150.
Had M S Dhoni planned to stay unbeaten by the end of the third day it would have given V V S Laxman an entire nights rest so as to recover from the injury and be in a position to bat on the fourth day. However Dhonis poor strategy meant that his dismissal ensured that an unfit Laxman had to come in to bat and the end result was that India folded from a healthy 354 to 4 to 405 all out losing six wickets for 51 runs in 13 overs. Without a shadow of doubt the cool, clam and mature M S Dhoni is the best captain in the world but he erred on the third day of Mohali test allowing Australia to claw back and if the Aussies play positive cricket they can even force a result in their favour since they know that India have to bat fourth in the match.
Sachin Tendulkar has got every right to feel disappointed as he is in the middle of a golden run and a century for him yesterday would have eased the pressure on him in his pursuit of 100 international centuries. For the record Sachin's dismissal on 98 is the 8th such occasion he has been dismissed in the nineties in test matches and the 26th occasion he has been dismissed in nineties in international cricket. Sachin's 26 nineties in international cricket in itself is a big achievement because had some of those been converted into hundreds his count of hundreds would have been staggering.
It would been interesting to watch Australian teams game ploy on the fourth day. In an era of Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Shane Warne and Mc Grath Ricky Ponting would have gone for the kill but the current Aussie team in all likelihood has come to India with the intent of drawing both the tests and therefore would be batting to ensure of a draw first and if luck goes their way in the form of an unexpected top order Indian batting collapse go for a win.
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