India on top thanks to Tendulkar

FOURTH ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL, Chandigarh:
India 291-4 (50 overs) v Australia

Sachin Tendulkar's gritty 79 helped India to 291-4 in the fourth one-day match against Australia in Chandigarh.

Tendulkar could have been caught behind and lbw to Brett Lee on one but hung on to make a world record 84th ODI fifty.

He added 91 with Sourav Ganguly (41), and 83 with Yuvraj Singh (39) before being run out after facing 119 balls.

Mahendra Dhoni blasted an unbeaten 50 and Robin Uthappa 30 to leave India, 2-0 down, well placed on a pitch offering turn and variable bounce.

Ganguly, back after a hamstring injury, was one of three changes for the hosts, with RP Singh and Murali Kartik - in his first game for India since February 2006 - also coming in.

But all eyes were on Tendulkar, who had struggled for form after opting out of the World Twenty20 and he produced one of his least fluent innings for his country.

He was beaten at will in the opening exchanges by Lee, who bowled with pace, and replays showed he had edged the speedster behind and should have been ruled leg-before to a straightish ball.

Tendulkar waited 43 balls before hitting his first boundary and punctuated periods of scratching around with some delightful drives through the off-side.

Ganguly was also beaten several times but was the more aggressive early on in those difficult conditions, particularly in his favoured area square on the off-side.

After he nicked James Hopes behind, Tendulkar overtook Inzamam-ul-Haq's 83 ODI fifties and cracked Andrew Symonds through the covers to bring up 150 for India at the end of over 32.

Yuvraj also struggled to find the timing which had brought him a majestic century in the previous game, but still managed to accelerate after a slow start as the duo began to find the gaps cleverly

Just when he looked on course for a grandstand finish he lofted Hopes to cover but a combination of Tendulkar's delicate touch and skipper Dhoni's brute force helped the hosts finally get on top of the bowling.

Dhoni, who had promoted himself, got going with sucessive fours off Hopes, a brutal pull down the ground and inside edge, as 15 came off the over to leave India 202-2 in 40 overs.

And after Tendulkar cut Mitchell Johnson, Dhoni smashed through mid-on and drove beautifully down the ground to make it 29 in two overs.

Tendulkar, who had played the paddle sweep well, finally departed when he failed to make clean contact with another attempt against Hopes and was run out by Lee from short fine-leg after being sent back by Dhoni.

Bracken bowled Rahul Dravid after being hit for successive fours, but Uthappa landed some lusty blows to provide a flourish at the end.

Dhoni finished with two more another thrashes down the ground off the expensive Bracken, with the final ball flying into the crowd for the only six off the innings to bring up his fifty.

Source: BBC Sport