Nagpur, Nov 06: India’s batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar slammed his 37th Test century at Nagpur to give India a solid platform in the final Test against Australia. The effort was marked with some exceptional shot-making that was coupled with effective running between the wickets. The Indian total inched towards the 300 run-mark with the last session of play nearing its end. Earlier, VVS Laxman finally succumbed to the Aussie attack shortly after scoring his 37th Test half-century. He was claimed by the Australian wrecker of the day, Jason Krejza as the ball flew off his blade into the hands of Brad Haddin at a score of 64 runs. The fall of the fourth wicket brought out Sourav Ganguly on the crease in his last match for India. Prior to this, the Indian total had gone past the 250 run-mark with a centurion partnership between Tendulkar and Laxman. The Australian outfit looked helpless against the veteran batsmen as woes piled up with Mitchell Johnson dropping Tendulkar at a score of 85 runs. Post-Lunch Session India’s batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar scored his 52nd Test fifty and built on a solid partnership with 100 Tests veteran VVS Laxman. The duo piled up runs with ease and the scoreboard read 202 runs for the loss of three wickets at tea time. It was a good session for the home team as even a single wicket couldn’t be claimed by the Australians. Their mantra was to rotate the strike and punish the odd ball, a strategy that left Australian bowlers looking for that elusive breakthrough. Morning Session The morning session came with a mixed bag of goodies for both the teams as India started off well with Sehwag’s pyrotechnics while Ponting’s men turned the tables towards the end of the session, claiming three wickets. The veteran duo of Tendulkar and Laxman held fort at lunch as the Indian scorecard read 122 runs for the loss of three wickets. Krejza made his presence felt at Nagpur as he claimed the prized scalp of Virender Sehwag just when the batsman seemed to become unstoppable. The spinner bowled a well disguised turner that was dragged onto the stumps by Sehwag in an attempt to run it to third man. Krejza had got his first Test wicket in the form of Rahul Dravid as the batsman was caught by Simon Katich at forward short leg for a duck. Australia had got their first breakthrough of the morning in the form of debutant Murali Vijay’s wicket. The batsman was caught behind the wicket by Brad Haddin off Shane Watson’s short of a length delivery at a score of 33 runs. Prior to this, Sehwag had got the proceedings off to a flier with his brilliant stroke-making and slammed a quick fire fifty. The duo of Sehwag and Vijay rotated the strike effectively and got the boundaries with ease, creating problems for the Aussie bowlers. Toss Indian skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first in the final Test match against Australia at Nagpur. The big change in the Indian camp was the entry of Murali Vijay in place of Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir as he is serving a one-Test ban. Another change was the inclusion of Harbhajan Singh in place of ex-captain Anil Kumble. The Australian squad brought in a change as Stuart Clark made way for Jason Krejza as the pitch would support the latter’s spin bowling a bit more. Australia (Playing XI): Matthew Hayden, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting(c), Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Shane Watson, Cameron White, Brad Haddin(w), Brett Lee, Jason Krejza, Mitchell Johnson India (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Saurav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma
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