03 January 2004	Saturday	10 Ziqa'ad 1424

SYDNEY, Jan 2: India's master batsman Sachin Tendulkar scored his first half-century of the series to put a dampener on Australian captain Steve Waugh's farewell party on the first day of the fourth and final Test on Friday.

Tendulkar ended a barren run of form with an unbeaten 73 to steer India to 284 for three at stumps at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In-form opener Virender Sehwag (72) also completed a half-century in a 123-run first wicket stand with Akash Chopra (45) to lay the platform for the tourists' strong batting display in the series decider.

The two openers departed in quick succession after lunch only for Tendulkar to steady the ship with two half-century partnerships.

He shared a 66-run stand with Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid (38) then an unbroken partnership of 90 with Vangipurappu Laxman (29 not out) to frustrate an Australian side desperate to send their retiring skipper out on a winning note.

Waugh, playing his 168th and final Test, used seven different bowlers, including himself, in the hope of triggering an Indian collapse but to no avail. Australia blew a golden opportunity for an early breakthrough when Chopra was given two extraordinary let-offs in the seventh over of the day and missed a series of half-chances with poor fielding.

Chopra had his first escape when he was caught by wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist off a Brett Lee no-ball then a second off the very next delivery when he was dropped by Simon Katich in the gully.

The two Indian openers put on 141 for the first wicket in the third test in Melbourne when they were given let-offs and again made the Australians pay for their mistakes.

Sehwag, who made a career best 195 in Melbourne, was the more aggressive of the pair, smashing 15 runs, including a six, off Lee's sixth over to force him out of the attack.

Chopra played a more defensive role but opened up after lunch when the pair took the total past 100 to silence the capacity crowd of 44,000, the largest first day attendance at the SCG since the ground was reconfigured to an all-seater stadium in 1978.

Paceman Jason Gillespie finally made the breakthrough after lunch when Sehwag edged to Gilchrist, then Lee bowled Chopra with an inswinging yorker with the addition of just five runs to the total.

Dravid, India's best batsmen of the series, continued his great run of form, taking his series tally past 500 as he and Tendulkar started to rebuild the innings.

He departed after tea when Gillespie struck him on the pads and New Zealand umpire Brent Bowden raised his distinctive bent figure to give him out, leaving Tendulkar to soldier on.

Tendulkar had managed a modest total of just 82 runs from the three previous Tests but found his form in the nick of time with a cautious but assured performance. He began slowly, but quickly grew in confidence the longer his innings he progressed.

When he reached 36, Tendulkar became just the fourth player in history to make 9,000 Test runs, joining Allan Border, Waugh and Sunil Gavaskar in the exclusive club.

He completed his 37th Test 50 from 100 balls in 134 minutes and survived to finish the day just 27 runs of joining Waugh on the all-time lost of Test century makers with 32 hundreds.

Scoreboard 



India (1st innings)



A. Chopra b Lee 	45



V. Sehwag c Gilchrist b Gillespie 	72



R. Dravid lbw b Gillespie 	38



S. Tendulkar not out 	73



V. Laxman not out 	29



Extras (b4, lb2, w2, nb19) 	27



Total (3 wkts, 90 overs) 	284



Fall of wkts: 1-123, 2-128, 3-194



Bowling: Lee 21-3-80-1 (15nb), Gillespie 23-7-51-2 (2nb, 2w), Bracken 23-9-60-0,
 
MacGill 18-3-65-0 (2nb), Waugh 2-0-6-0, Katich 2-0-13-0, Martyn 1-0-3-0



To bat: S. Ganguly, P. Patel, A. Agarkar, A. Kumble, I. Pathan, M. Kartik.



Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WIS), Brent Bowden (NZL)



Match referee: Mike Procter (RSA). -Reuters/AFP