Sachin Tendulkar would like to forget his landmark four-hundredth match in a hurry. He looked in sublime touch, but could do little as his teammates left him stranded in the middle. He kept watching as Indian wickets tumbled at the other end. And then he stitched the highest partnership of the innings, that of 49 runs, with local lad Irfan Pathan. Even before Tendulkar had faced a single delivery, two batsmen were back in the hut. But the 34-year-old had raised hopes briefly of a possible Indian comeback with his fluent drives reminiscent of his early days. That was before he fell for 47 off 73 balls. “Sachin looked very good today. Some of the drives were as good as you can see. In the last match he was struggling, and we were happy to restrict him. But today was his 400th game, so obviously he wanted to make it special,” said rival skipper Ricky Ponting. Tendulkar was middling the ball right from the word go. He dispatched the fifth ball off Australia’s best bowler of the day, Mitchell Johnson, for four. The Aussie over-pitched outside the off-stump and Tendulkar freed his arms, bisecting the covers. And then a flick off the toes. The same bowler was at the receiving end. He once more gave Johnson a taste of his class when he opened the face of his blade as the ball raced to the ropes. Even the other bowlers came in for a treatment for the batsman. Brett Lee was hit twice through the cover region, James Hopes thrice and Nathan Bracken once. And then the end came. Lee, back into the attack in that over, produce an outswinger. A good-length delivery committing Tendulkar onto front foot, and then finding the outside edge of the willow.“Apart from the ball he got out to, Tendulkar dominated the bowling. It was as if he was batting on a different wicket and we were struggling on another,” said Indian captain MS Dhoni.
