India hopes rest on Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar
12 April 2012

Sachin Tendulkar was shouldering India hopes at tea on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka with the tourists still needing 200 runs to avoid the follow on.

Tendulkar dug in grimly for a defiant 39 not out off 93 balls as India were reduced to 243 for four in reply to Sri Lanka's 642 for four.

India lost openers Virender Sehwag (99), Murali Vijay (58) and Rahul Dravid (3) in the morning session and VVS Laxman departed for a hard-fought 29 before tea.

Tendulkar and Laxman were relatively fresh at the crease at the start of the afternoon session and they steered India past 200.

The tourists, however, survived a huge scare when Dilhara Fernando sent in a wicked bouncer, which Tendulkar could only edge in an attempted cut, but wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene dropped a relatively simple catch.

Sri Lanka piled on the pressure and were rewarded when Ajantha Mendis trapped Laxman leg before, just 10 minutes before tea.

India had begun the day on 95 without loss and Sehwag maintained his aggressive approach from the start, smashing Fernando for consecutive boundaries in the second over of the day.

Vijay, who had played second fiddle to Sehwag, reached his second Test half-century in style, hitting spinner Mendis for a boundary.

Sehwag then attempted to bring up his century with a blazing shot, but was beaten by the flight and stumped by Jayawardene, as Randiv claimed his first Test wicket with his first ball of the day.

Mendis then stepped up to the plate to deal India a further blow, trapping Vijay plum lbw for 58 and Randiv continued a dream debut when Dravid failed to negotiate a quicker delivery and was caught leg before.

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