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Tendulkar misses record 35th century

Sachin Tendulkar missed a world-record 35th test hundred by six runs Thursday, but his partnership with century-maker Virender Sehwag put India in command of the first test match against Pakistan

Sehwag's 173 and Tendulkar's 94 bolstered India to 447 for six on the third day, giving it a 135-run lead over Pakistan's first innings score of 312.
Sehwag and Tendulkar shared a 118-run partnership for the third wicket that subdued the attack as India built on Wednesday's solid foundation when the home side made 184 for one.

Sehwag, unbeaten on 95 at stumps Wednesday, struck two sixes and 19 boundaries off 224 deliveries to post his ninth century in 32 tests before hitting seamer Abdul Razzaq straight to Yousuf Youhana at mid-on.

Sehwag's score is the highest by an Indian batsman at Mohali's Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, surpassing Rahul Dravid's 144 against New Zealand in 1999-2000.

Sehwag also put on century partnerships for the opening wicket with Gautam Gambhir and Dravid.

Tendulkar smashed 11 boundaries off 202 balls during his patient five-hour knock, before edging an outswinging delivery from seamer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan to Asim Kamal in the gully, causing dismay to a capacity crowd of 35,000 that was bracing to greet the batsman's new milestone.

Tendulkar fell - on the fourth delivery with the second new ball - just as he appeared set to log his 35th century in 121 tests that would have taken him one ahead of the record he shares with former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar.

"Sachin was obviously disappointed at missing the century, we were all dejected at his dismissal so close to a hundred," said Sehwag.

"All of us in the dressing room were waiting for Sachin to make his 35th century," he said.

Tendulkar had equaled Gavaskar's record of 34 centuries three months ago against Bangladesh at Dhaka. This was the sixth time in his career that Tendulkar has been dismissed in the 90s, leaving him 27 runs short of 10,000 runs in tests.

Only four batsmen - Australians Allan Border and Steve Waugh, West Indian Brian Lara, and Gavaskar - have passed 10,000 runs in test matches.

Tendulkar is already the top century-maker in limited-over internationals, having scored 37 one-day hundreds in amassing a world record 13,497 runs from 342 one-dayers.

Tendulkar was lucky not be given out caught pad-bat by Asim Kamal off leg-spinner Danish Kaneria when on eight after South African umpire Rudi Koertzen turned down the appeal.

Before Tendulkar's arrival, Sehwag completed his century and stretched his second-wicket stand with Dravid to 103. Dravid fell to a good catch by Kamal at point off paceman Mohammad Sami for 50.

Dravid dispatched the ball to the fence seven times off 117 balls. His 150-minute innings ended when he flashed at a delivery outside the off-stump and saw Kamal take a well-judged low catch to his right.

This was Dravid's 36th half-century in 87 test matches. He has also scored 18 hundreds.

Sehwag batted patiently for the first 90 minutes before lofting seam bowler Razzaq for a six over long-off.

"I scored at good pace so that we could quickly get a big score despite the loss of time to rain yesterday," said Sehwag, adding that the Indian batsmen will try to score briskly Friday and maintain pressure on Pakistan.

The scoring accelerated further as Tendulkar displayed his range of strokes, a fluent cover drive off Razzaq being the pick of his boundaries.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly's knock of 21 included a reprieve by Taufeeq Umar at point on an edged shot off Sami, two balls after Younis Khan took a catch at first slip only to see the umpire signal a no-ball.

Dinesh Karthik fell cheaply for six, but V.V.S. Laxman, batting on 33, and Irfan Pathan, on one, were together at stumps.