Australia fell six wickets short of victory over India and Sachin Tendulkar 15 runs shy of Brian Lara’s Test runscoring world record as the first Test petered out to a disappointing draw here yesterday.
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Set 299 for victory on a slow but occasionally difficult wicket, the Indians were 4-177 when Australian captain Ricky Ponting agreed to call a halt to proceedings after a final session lengthened by two delays for bad light.
Batsman VVS Laxman (42no) and Sourav Ganguly (26no) held firm either side of the breaks to ensure the Australians would leave the M Chinnaswamy Stadium disappointed after failing to finish off a match they controlled for long periods.
Zaheer Khan was named man of the match for his first innings double of 5-91 and an unbeaten 57.
India had been a shaky 3-77 when Mitchell Johnson (1-23) found a way through the defence of Gautam Gambhir (29) soon after lunch, but Tendulkar and Laxman then combined for a stand of 61 that all but ended Australian hopes of squeezing out a last day win.
“We gave it our best shot with the ball but didn’t create enough opportunities, we needed a couple of wickets with the new ball and got those but after that Sachin and Laxman got together and we couldn’t break that partnership,” Ponting said.
“We played good cricket, there’s no doubt about that, we’ve dominated this Test match pretty much from the second or third over on the first day, we’ve had our noses in front in the game and unfortunately we haven’t been quite good enough to win it, but a really good start to the series for us.”
Tendulkar began his innings needing 64 to pass Lara’s total of 11,953 runs and so become the greatest scorer in Test history, but after reaching 49 and with the light getting murky, he drove impatiently at a well-flighted ball from debutant Cameron White (1-49) and was caught at short cover.
White’s delight at a momentous first wicket enhanced a creditable maiden Test appearance, in which he also fielded well and made a handy 18 not out as the tourists set their target this morning.
Australia declared at 6-228 after adding 35 runs in five overs of play, losing Shane Watson (41) in the second over to Ishant Sharma (3-40) before Brad Haddin (35no) and White batted swiftly to allow the tourists to build the lead.
Their defence of it began in ordinary fashion when Haddin, who did not have a good match behind the stumps, dropped an awkward but catchable snick from Sehwag off Brett Lee (1-26).
Fortunately for Haddin and the Australians, Sehwag was to last only one more ball.
Stuart Clark (1-12) gained a hint of away swing to claim Sehwag’s outside edge when the batsman tried to flick to leg, Hayden clasping a low catch at slip.
A better take would account for Dravid, as Ponting intercepted a firm legside push with a flying dive at shortish midwicket.
Dravid’s dismissal took Lee to 291 Test wickets, level in fourth place alongside Craig McDermott on Australia’s alltime list behind Dennis Lillee (355), Glenn McGrath (563) and Shane Warne (708).
Gambhir was fortunate to survive to lunch after several close calls, and soon after it he misread a slower off break from Johnson that turned back slightly to disturb the stumps.
Tendulkar and Laxman closed up shop initially, but showed a little more attacking intent as tea approached.
Tight lines by Clark and Watson immediately after the break removed any possibility of an Indian win, and soon the only interest that remained was Tendulkar’s pursuit of the record.
There had been drama from the first ball of the morning, when a violent Haddin drive was dropped by Indian skipper Anil Kumble, who then required treatment for a cut to his already-taped left thumb.
He immediately withdrew himself from the attack, to complete only the third wicketless Test of an international career that began in 1990.
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