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| November 26, 2003 | Wednesday | Shawwal 1, 1424 |
Ramesh and Tendulkar save India
MELBOURNE, Nov 25: Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar cracked 80 from 111 balls as India opened their Australian tour with a warm-up match against state side Victoria here on Tuesday.
But the tourists failed to capitalise on his knock and went to stumps with a modest 266 for nine wickets after they had won the toss at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Parthiv Patel was 52 not out and Ashish Nehra was yet to score in the three-day encounter.
Tendulkar hammered 14 fours during his effervescent knock in front of a small but enthusiastic crowd — most of them Indians.
“It was a good outing — I just wanted to be out in the middle and spend some time batting,” he said.
“I don’t know what’s in store for me on this tour... I just want to go out there and enjoy my cricket.
“I don’t want to think about what I have to achieve and put any pressure on myself.”
The last time Tendulkar batted at this ground, he scored 116 against Australia in the 1999 Boxing Day Test.
He will be India’s big hope for competitive totals in the four-Test series against the world champion home country starting in Brisbane Dec 4.
Quiet at first on Tuesday, Tendulkar opened up after the lunch break as he and Sadagoppan Ramesh (87) piled on the runs.
A Tendulkar century beckoned, but he fell when he drove a ball from left-arm paceman Matthew Inness to David Hussey at backward point.
The Indian innings unravelled from there, with captain Saurav Ganguly (two) out two runs later and Ramesh dismissed soon after.
Ramesh’s departure marked the start of a collapse in which India lost four wickets for 29 runs.
Nehra held up an end as Patel put on 17 for the last wicket.
Ramesh was a late addition to the team, after V.V.S. Laxman joined spinner Anil Kumble as a flu victim.
Inness impressed with 4-64 and fellow opening bowler Brett Harrop marked his first-class debut by taking the first wicket of the match as Akash Chopra was caught behind for two.
Talented 20-year-old captain Cameron White had Ramesh caught by Hussey at cover and took the last three wickets of the day to finish with 4-59 from his probing leg-spinners.
Ajit Agarkar was 12th man for India.
Scoreboard
INDIA (1st Innings):
A. Chopra c Roach b Harrop 2
V. Sehwag c Hodge b Inness 23
S. Ramesh c Hussey b White 87
R.S. Dravid c Moss b Inness 0
S.R. Tendulkar c Hussey b Inness 80
S.C. Ganguly c Arnberger b Inness 2
P.A. Patel not out 52
Harbhajan Singh c Harvey b White 3
L. Balaji c and b White 4
Zaheer Khan c McDonald b White 2
A. Nehra not out 0
EXTRAS (LB-7, NB-4) 11
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 90 overs) 266
FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-41, 3-45, 4-173, 5-175, 6-220, 7-232, 8-241, 9-249.
BOWLING (to-date): Inness 20-5-64-4; Harrop 16-2-55-1 (3nb); Moss 18-10-31-0; Harvey 9-2-22-0 (1nb); McDonald 9-4-28-0; White 18-1-59-4.
VICTORIA: C. White (captain), J. Arnberger, M.T.G. Elliott, B. Harrop, I.J. Harvey, B.J. Hodge, D. Hussey, M. Inness, A. McDonald, J. Moss, P. Roach.—AFP/Reuters
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