The Indian batting lineup redeemed itself at the SCG after a dismal performance at the MCG, riding high on VVS Laxman's glorious 109 and Sachin Tendulkar's sublime 154*. But once again, India's tactics while batting with the tail was baffling to say the least and this time it was Tendulkar who was the culprit. His strategy of trusting the tailenders and sharing equal strike with them worked pretty well with Harbhajan, who scored a very useful 63. And that partnership between them essentially enabled India to get closer to Australia's score and eventually go past it.
Once Harbhajan got out, one expected Tendulkar to take charge, farm the strike and be more aggressive. But, Tendulkar was happy to rotate the strike around to both RP Singh and Ishant Sharma, both of whom outscored Tendulkar in their partnerships! Agreed, Ponting made things harder by pulling back the field when Tendulkar was facing the bowling and bringing the field in for the last 2 balls of an over; but, it was frustrating to see Tendulkar neither show any intent to protect the tail nor be aggressive in scoring runs. Its to the tailenders credit that they were able to last longer than expected.
Nevertheless it was a controlled, well-paced, expert innings from Tendulkar, who after a couple of near misses in 2007 has scored his 38th test hundred - an innings that has put India on top...for now.
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