India learn to block

Tendulkar, Laxman dig in as hosts keep Australia out and ensure teams head to Mohali on even footing.

Though the entire Chinnaswamy Stadium was stunned into silence, somehow Sachin Tendulkar falling 15 short of Brian Lara8217;s Mt 11,953 shouldn8217;t quite be seen as a monumental miss but a welcome postponement of history. Considering the Indian tradition of over-the-top celebrations of run feats, had Tendulkar overtaken Lara, the collective resolve of the Indian batsmen in the drawn encounter would surely have become a side show.

In fact, the lack of any kind of milestones in the Indian innings 8212; Tendulkar fell one short of his half-century and VVS Laxman remained unbeaten on 42 8212; was kind of fitting on a day when India managed to hang in there to draw a Test match in which they were up against it for most of the five days.

Tendulkar and Laxman have had several statistical highs and match-winning efforts in their long careers, but their match-saving 40s in this game will probably be etched in most viewers8217; memories, for Indian teams have had an annoying habit of crumbling on the final day of Test matches.

When the Aussies set a target of 299 after batting five overs in the morning, and India lost Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid before lunch, the already improbable scenario of an Indian victory went firmly out of the equation. From that point on, it wasn8217;t about the runs scored anymore, but the minutes spent at the crease.

And under the circumstances, the most important figures against Tendulkar and Laxman8217;s names in the scorecards weren8217;t the modest 49 and 42, but the 178 and 172 in the minutes column.

The two came together with the score reading 79 for 3 and Australia having more than 50 overs to take the remaining seven wickets. On a pitch where predicting what the ball would do was a guessing game, things looked bad for the hosts.

Nothing flashy

It was an unfamiliar situation for the men famous for their exquisite stroke play. But Tendulkar left the straight punch in the dressing room, and Laxman didn8217;t pull out the wristy flicks through the on-side as the two batsmen, rather than sending crowds into raptures as they normally do, spread the smiles in the Indian dressing room.

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Tendulkar scored just 19 runs in front of the wicket, and had just one cover drive to show at the end of his knock, with the flick off the pads being the most productive shot.

For Laxman, Ricky Ponting had a silly mid-on and two short mid-wickets in place as the pacers stuck to a middle and off-stump line. But Laxman refused to fall for the bait, concentrating on the off-side or behind the wicket.

In a Test match where the Australians put a lot of emphasis on running their singles, it was the number of dot balls on the final day that counted. Tendulkar had 95 of them against his name, while Laxman had 121. The partnership only amounted to 61, but the fact that the Aussies went wicketless for 26 overs decided the result of the game.

Tendulkar finally fell 15 short of the world record, to leg-spinner Cameron White. But by then the Aussie resolve had been broken. And in case there was something left, the 49 minutes stoppage because of bad light and Sourav Ganguly8217;s resolute show meant play was called off with nine overs to go.

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Ponting agreed that the Tendulkar-Laxman partnership made all the difference. 8220;It was quite tough to separate them. And that8217;s the reason we couldn8217;t win this game,8221; he said. Bangalore may not have witnessed Tendulkar breaking Lara8217;s record, but the last five days definitely showed that Tendulkar, along with Laxman, Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, are not ready to be pushed around yet.