Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Sachin Tendulkar helped India secure a draw against Australia in the first Test in Bangalore as he fell 15 runs short of breaking the record for the most runs in Test cricket history.
The 35-year-old Tendulkar came to the crease with his side struggling at 24-2 chasing a target of 299. He shared half- century stands with Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman before becoming Cameron White's first Test victim while on 49.
The batsman known as the ``Little Master'' needed to make 64 to break former West Indies batsman Brian Lara's all-time record of 11,953 runs. He is poised to reach the milestone in the second Test starting in four days in Mohali.
Ricky Ponting had declared Australia's second innings at 228-6 about 30 minutes into the morning session after his team added 35 runs to its overnight total. That left India needing a record fourth-innings total in Bangalore to win.
The early dismissals of Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid gave Australia the upper hand only for Tendulkar to thwart Ponting's victory charge.
Tendulkar fell one run short of what would have been his 50th Test half-century driving White to Michael Clarke at short cover shortly after looking frustrated at not being offered bad light by the umpires.
India was 177-4 when play was finally called off after two interruptions for bad light. Laxman was unbeaten on 42 and Sourav Ganguly 26 not out.
Tendulkar, who made his debut against Pakistan as a 16- year-old, already has the world record of 39 Test centuries and has accumulated the most runs (16,361) and hundreds (42) in one- day internationals.
Australia is aiming to win a ninth straight Test series and has now lost only once in its past 28 Tests. India made 360 in its first innings in reply to Australia's 430. This series will be contested over four matches.
0 comments:
Post a Comment