Bangalore Test interestingly poised
Sachin Tendulkar smashed yet another double century in his illustrious career. The double century which came in the first session of fourth days play at Bangalore aginst his favourite foe Australia is his sixth in test matches and the second in 2010. Both double centuries scored by Sachin Tendulkar in Test Matches had a similarity because in both occasions he helped his partners Suresh Raina against Sri Lanka at Colombo and Murali Vijay at Bangalore to their maiden centuries in Test Matches. There is yet another similarity as M S Dhoni was at the non strikers end when Sachin Tendulkar scored his 200thrun on both the occassions. In fact M S Dhoni was at the non strikers end on all the 3 occassions when Sachin Tendulkar scored a double hundred in 2010 which included the only double century in the history of one dayers scored against South Africa at Rajkot. Sachin's sixthd ouble century put him on par with Virender Sehwag for the most number of double centuries by an Indian but it is very unlikely that Sachin Tendulkar may hold that record for too long because Virender Sehwag has still about 6 years of cricket in left him and in all likelihood he should end his career with more than double centuries considering the fact that his track record is exceptional when converting his centuries to big ones.
Sachin's214 was a monumental effort because he held the innings together for almost the entire length of the Indian innings. Sachin Tendulkar came in at 38 for 2 and was dismissed at 486 for 5 as 90.48% of the runs were scored when Sachinwas at the crease as Sachin had to run for his partners as well during his marathon stay at the crease. Indians worst fears came true as Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal triggered a collapse for the second time in this series and heading into the final day both teams are almost on even terms much in the same manner it was at the fourth days play at Mohali.
While Indians had a great chance to shut out the Aussies had they batted till tea and built a decent lead Aussies cannot rejoice because Ricky Ponting finds himself in a situation where he cannot take a decision as to what is a safe target. Considering the fact that Aussies almostdefended a modest 216 on the fifth day of the first test at Mohali Ricky Pontingcan declare in the innings so as to give his bowlers enough time to have a crack at the Indian batting line up. Indian batsmen were undone by reverse swing in the first innings and an early declaration would ensure that the bowlers get a ball old enough later in the innings to reverse swing. However early declaration has its own risks as 2 to 3 decent partnerships and a few edges are good enough to take the game away from Australia. If Aussie tail enders bat long enough then too Ponting would be playing to India's hands as Indians would have to bat fewer overs which is good enough to give them a draw and a series. That would also mean Aussie bowlers would be operating with a newer ball for most part of their innings and therefore there will be no reverse swing to trouble the Indians. It would also be easier for the likes of Sehwag, Tendulkar and Dhoni to smash the new ball all over the park.
One thing is for sure that Aussies wont be setting defensive fields because and if they do so they will be playing to India's hands as it is impossible to choke the run flow against a batting line up led by Sachin Tedulkar which has the likes of Virender Sehwag, M S Dhoni and Suresh Raina. At the end of fourth days Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Hauritz were batting on 7 and 8 respectively and one may hope that Indian bowlers may clean them up early but the fact that both of them average around 23 in their test career and a partnership of 50 between them cannot be ruled out and this would complicate matters for Indians.
However Indians have a slight edge because the duo of Sachin and Sehwag with support from Dravid and Dhoni can look too intimIdating for any bowling line up in the world. Aussies have only a single bowler in Mitchell Johnson who is capable of running through a batting line and he has not done that often in Test Matches to worry the Indians. While Hauritz is not good enough a spinner to exploit the track, the pacers are not capable of taking more than a couple of wickets in a single spell. Aussies scored 478 in their first innings and India replied with 494 but one of those scores will end up on the losing side.
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