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Sachin Tendulkar missed out on a century but India scored at a brisk pace to reach 263 for four in their first innings at lunch on the third day of the first cricket Test against Australia here today.
At the break, Virat Kohli (83) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (37) were holding fort for the home side which is not very far from Australia’s first innings total of 380.
Tendulkar was the only Indian to be dismissed this morning but scoring remained unaffected as Dhoni and Kohli dropped anchor to put the home side in a comfortable position.
Australian skipper Michael Clark opened the bowling with tearaway pacer James Pattinson, who had taken all three of the Indian wickets to fall yesterday, hoping to get a quick breakthrough.
Pattinson bowled five overs in his first spell, gave away just six runs and asked quite a few questions from the set batsmen but could not get a wicket. His second spell lasted merely two overs.
Similar was the case of Peter Siddle, who was economical but just could not get a wicket in both his spells.
After Pattinson and Siddle could not get a wicket in their opening spells, Clarke changed the bowlers on both the ends, bringing in off-spinner Nathan Lyon and seamer Mitchell Starc.
Lyon, against whom Tendulkar had survived a close leg-before shout yesterday, delivered when he dismissed the well-set veteran.
Tendulkar was on 81 and looked good for a hundred but Lyon denied him the milestone. The Australian tossed a delivery outside the off-stump in the 64th over which took a faint inside edge from Tendulkar’s bat before spinning through to the stumps.
Tendulkar faced 159 deliveries during the knock, which was laced with seven fours. The right-hander had shared a 91-run stand with Kohli during his stay at the crease.
In came Dhoni, promoting himself ahead of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who has scored three triple-centuries in first-class cricket. He was hardly tested as the home team touched the 200 mark in 64.2 overs.
At the other end, Virat Kohli sailed along combining caution with aggression. One of the highlights for Kohli, who showed patience by waiting for the loose deliveries, was a six off Lyon over midwicket.
His stroke-making became more fluent as the session progressed and he seemed hardly troubled by any of the bowlers that Australia employed.
Dhoni, on the other hand, reached 37 off 42 deliveries including four fours.
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