What an innings by Sachin, though he had two chances! He scored his 40th Test Hundred and 10th against Australia.
Dhoni won the toss again and rightly decided to bat. The debutant Murali Vijay and Sehwag gave a good start with 98-run partnership for the first wicket. Vijay never looked nervous, may be he just hid it.
He got off the mark with a good drive to covers with a two. Hen then drove Lee through covers for a four. Sehwag was devastating playing through his legs, driving and hitting in the air.
Sehwag hit debutant Krejza for a four and six successively in his first over. Vijay also came down the track and hit him over long on for a boundary. This showed his confidence. Vijay scored 33 runs with 2 boundaries off 53 balls. A good bouncer at chest height clipped the shoulder of the bat and went to Haddin. Though he moved little on the leg side but moved rightly moved his hands to grab the catch.
The break through was given by Watson and subsenquent wickets were taken by Krejza. Dravid's poor form continued in this innings also. He was out for a duck in the 2nd ball he faced. The well flighted ball on the off stump, spun and bounced which clipped the glouse and went to short leg where Katich took an easy catch.
Soon, Sehwag was also departed. He was playing with full confidence, trying to play backfoot, but the ball took the inside edge and clipped the stumps. He scored 66 off 69 balls with 9 fours and a six. The score when he departed was 116 for 3.
Laxman and Tendulkar had huge responsibility on the shoulder. Both of them took India to 122 for 3 at lunch. Tendulkar played well driving, glancing, hitting over the fielders head. Laxman pulled Krejza for few boundaries off the short balls.
Laxman playing his 100th test wanted to make a mark on it. Though he was in danger once when he tried to play through mid wicket and the ball took the edge and flew in the air over the fielders head. Other than that, he looked solid and scored another 50 of the series--the third concequtive time he crossed in 3 innings.
Sachin and Laxman added 146 runs for the 4th wicket. Laxman moved towards leg stump to give room for himself and tried to drive it through covers. The bounce and turn surprised him, took the outside edge. Haddin fumbled it but the ball rested between his thighs. Laxman scored 64 off 141 balls with 5 hits to the boundaries.
Soon, Sachin scored his 40th Test hundred, the leading centurian in both Test and ODI. When he was on 85, he tried to hit Krejza over long off for a six, but he miss timed it and hte ball went straight to Johnson. He tried to catch the ball at his head level in the typical Australian way with pams facing the sky. The luck favored Sachin and the ball went through his hands. Australians generally don't miss these kinds of catches.
Once again on 96, Sachin tried to hit over long off but the ball went high in the air over Lee's head. Lee was running chasing the ball going ahead of him in the air. He judged it almost 90%, but the 10% went once again in favor of Tendulkar.
He stayed in 99 for almost 10 balls. Ponting even delayed his hundred by talking with the bowler. But, the next ball was a short ball on the off stump which was cut through the point boundary for a four. What a way to get to the hundred! He did it in 166 balls with 12 fours.
The 2nd new ball provided the great break through in the form of LBW. Saching playing within the crease, trying to play it through mid wicket, shuffling, trapped on the front leg at knee level. Johnson's appeal was accepted by the Billy. Sachin was out for 109 off 188 balls with 12 fours.
Ganguly and Dhoni remained not out on 27 and 4 respectively. Krejza picked 3 wickets, but was costly. He finished day 1 with 3 for 138 in his 28 overs with the economy rate of 4.92.
Scoreboard at the end of Day 1:
Toss: India
India 1st Innings 311 for 5 in 87 overs (Sehwag 66, Vijay 33, Dravid 0, Tendulkar 109, Laxman 64, Ganguly 27 batting, Dhoni 4 batting, Extras--8 (b 4, lb 2, w 1, nb 1), Lee 12-1-46-0, Johnson 21-8-54-1, Watson 13-2-35-1, Krezja 28-1-138-3, White 10-1-24-0, Katich 3-0-8-0)
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