Tendulkar masterclass not enough for India

Sachin Tendulkar almost chased 351 on his own but, with the target in sight, he got out and the rest choked, falling short by three runs with two balls still to go. In Chennai in 1998-99, Tendulkar, having played an innings as incredible as this, left the last three wickets 18 to get; tonight he left them 19 off 17.

Wickets kept falling around him but Tendulkar gave the bowlers only one half chance before he got out. All night they couldn't get an uncouth shot out of him. He came out of a relatively lean patch, kept the pace up without taking undue risks and playing mostly cricketing shots, struggling for support from the other end, but counterattacking every time a wicket fell. Virender Sehwag may have dominated the first-wicket partnership but Tendulkar got 18 out of 26, 24 out of 34, 29 out of 36, and 73 out of 137 for the subsequent stands.

Tendulkar started scratchily, as the series so far has been for him, and then shifted gears seamlessly. The flicks made the jaw drop for the bat seemed to came down later than usual, and hence the carry the ball finer than usual. Check the 38 runs he got behind square on the leg side. The aerial shots were all hit in vacant areas, many of them straight down the ground, some of them with the spin, to midwicket. Towards the end, late-cuts came out too, cheekily.

The acceleration was acute: from 10 off 19 he went to 50 off 47. But by then he had lost Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh. MS Dhoni would soon go. But Tendulkar found support in Raina, at 162 for 4. It was a perfect partnership while it lasted.