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Test cricket between Australia and India at the SCG continues today. Join our live commentary from 10.30 am AEST, as Sachin Tendulkar and India face a momentous fourth-day challenge to avert an Australian victory.
Tendulkar is still at the crease, having battled through the final hour yesterday to finish on 8 not out. He will be the key, as India need to bat for at least five sessions to deny Australia a 2-0 lead in the series. India overnight were 2/114, still 354 runs behind Australia’s massive 4/658 declared. At present, the result could still be in the balance, with an easy batting pitch raising hopes of a long Tendulkar innings.
However, the job can’t be left to Tendulkar alone. Gautam Gambhir is still with him on 68, and his highest Test score was a double-century against Australia. VVS Laxman is still to come, the man who put on an immense 353-run partnership with Tendulkar in 2004. Something emulating these efforts will need to be produced if India are to bat far enough into the fifth day to have a chance of saving the Test.
Australia’s lead yesterday was built on Michael Clarke’s epic and aggressive 329 not out, the 13th-highest individual score in 135 years of Test cricket, and the fourth-highest Australian score behind Bradman, Taylor, and Hayden. Michael Hussey made 150 not out as the pair put on over 300 together, then declared an hour after lunch to send a tired and demoralised India in.
Nonetheless, Gambhir put aside recent form woes to attack, even as Virender Sehwag slapped lazily to point, and Rahul Dravid was bowled by a beauty from Ben Hilfenaus. Gambhir, though, was dropped by Brad Haddin late in the day, as he tried to defend his way to stumps. Tendulkar also played for stumps, his 8 runs coming off 42 balls.
India can’t afford to retreat tomorrow and merely bat for the draw. Australia’s bowlers looked taken aback yesterday as Gambhir and Dravid attacked, and Clarke’s field placings tended to the conservative. Being assertive against the bowling is the only way India can stop Australia simply tightening the noose. No bowler likes going for runs, whatever the lead. If India can score consistently, it will start to put pressure back on Australia.
And if they can bat out the day, they would at least be getting close to erasing the Australian lead, meaning any further runs would add an Australian chase, however small, to the equation.
All that is a long way off, however, and the far more likely result is an Australian victory today. If a wicket falls early, which it is likely to do, the match tilts substantially Australia’s way. If two wickets fall, it’s game over.
Can the impossible happen? Or will the likely prevail? Join Geoff Lemon for our live commentary from 10.30 am AEST by scrolling down to the Comments section, and feel welcome to join him in conversation.