Dispirited Away

Now,with two overs to go for the second new ball,with India needing to survive not four overs but four more sessions at least Clarke,now captain of Australia,wheeled in once again. With a triple century already behind him,in the 100th Test staged at his home venue,he swept his left arm through its low arc for the second ball of his sixth over,to bowl to a man 20 runs away from his 100th international hundred.

The ball pitched on off stump and turned a fraction,approximately the millionth such delivery that Sachin Tendulkar faced in his lifetime. But his bat,completing the forward defensive,came down an inch off line. The ball kissed his edge,kissed the edge of Brad Haddins right glove which had already let two catches slip over the course of the Indian innings and disappeared into Mike Husseys hands at first slip.

One last time

As Clarke bounded away towards gully,the departing Tendulkar raised his bat to the Sydney crowd. Its unclear whether hell play the ODI series after the Tests,so this might well have been a final farewell to a venue that has showered him with more love than any other outside India.

Three overs later,Sydney rose to see off its other adopted Indian,VVS Laxman,most definitely taking his last walk off a wicket that had been a goldmine for him. His fourth Test at the SCG didnt produce a fourth century,but his admirers would go back home content,their minds eye replaying the artistry of old contained in his 66.

As has been the case so often in his career,Laxman was bowled to an absolute peach,a Ben Hilfenhaus outswinger that left him just enough to sneak past a bat angled towards midwicket and graze the off stump.

It was Hilfenhaus who took charge of the task that remained before Australia at the start of Day Four,of whittling away the last eight Indian wickets on a glorious batting strip. Having already dismissed Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid,Hilfenhaus completed his second five-wicket haul of the series to give the hosts victory by an innings and 68 runs.

At the start,Hilfenhaus and Tendulkar were engaged in a riveting tussle. Five times in his first three overs of the day,the batsman waited on his outswinger and steered,cut or slapped the ball into gaps between point,gully and second slip.

With plenty of little dabs into the leg side and pushes into the off for two and three,Tendulkar moved briskly past 50 and through the 60s. By then,Gautam Gambhir had departed,foxed by a slower ball from Peter Siddle.

Calm before the storm

Post lunch,with the new ball approaching,Tendulkar retreated a little against the part-time efforts of Clarke and Hussey. Its hard to imply causation,of course,but his dismissal,as on a few occasions in the past,occurred in this becalmed period.

Following the dismissals of Laxman and Tendulkar,hopes of stretching the match into the fifth day faded. MS Dhoni was out caught and bowled by Hilfenhaus,replays showing that the ball had landed in the blockhole and produced a scoop rather than hitting the toe of the bat on the full to result in a bump-ball. Pattinson took out Virat Kohli with a ball that cut back in and kept a little low.

The score at that point was 286 for seven. The tail did well to take the score past 300 a rare occurrence overseas of late and extend it as far as 400.

Zaheer Khan seems to have decided never again to get behind the line,a move echoing the later years of Javagal Srinaths career,prompted perhaps by a fear of broken fingers. On this day,Zaheers method of back-away-and-swipe fetched him five fours and a six.

Ravichandran Ashwin,meanwhile,got behind the line,batted like a less elegant version of Laxman,and was last out for 62,having become Indias second-highest run-scorer for the series.