That looking up at the heavens. It happened again — for the 39th time in Test cricket. Today, when each of the 19,654 at the Adelaide Oval stood up and looked at him in appreciation Sachin Tendulkar watched the clear blue sky, muttering a little prayer to the Almighty and his baba. And then, for a few moments, he tried to soak in the ambience. Twenty-four days in January 2008 have been better than the whole of 2007. His earlier century this New Year might have provided a big relief to the man himself, but this knock not only relieved him but also the team of tension. Tendulkar’s unbeaten 124 today — his ninth ton against Australia and the first one here — came at a crunch time and in the crucial Test match. He walked in minutes before lunch with the score reading 82/2, and will walk in again tomorrow with MS Dhoni to further the team’s Day One efforts of 309/5 on a flat wicket. India, batting first, kept five bowlers by their side for this Test, looking most desperate to win and level the series. Tendulkar’s 281 minutes at the crease had a special significance. Regarded by purists as the closest to the Don in batting stature, Tendulkar finally attained nirvana in Bradman’s hometown. He took all the time to measure the pace and bounce of the pitch. It was the 18th ball, a booming on-drive from the middle of his bat that set the ball rolling and thereafter he never looked back. Tendulkar started his flourish off Mitchell Johnson with three fours in an over before enjoying Brad Hogg’s introduction into the attack. India’s No 4 bat picked the bowler out from his hand and swept, cut, pulled, drove and hoisted him with the turn, reaching his half-century from 77 balls with five boundaries. His command over Hogg turned into contempt and it remained the same way until Ponting took off the chinaman bowler. Tendulkar scored 54 of his runs in less than as many balls, and reserved a similar treatment to the other left-arm spin option, Michael Clarke, in the side. The 34-year-old scored last 10 runs — 4, 2, 6, 2 — in the most rapid manner in recent times to reach his century. He took 113 balls to reach the figure with nine fours and three sixes. Among the Fab Four with the bat, only Tendulkar managed a big ton. Coincidently, he is the lone man to sneak into the one-day squad from among the senior pros in this team. VVS Laxman tried to arrange a good score for himself, managing a half-century after a silly let off by Adam Gilchrist off Lee on 37. Laxman played himself in with consummate ease with sublime drives to the slow stuff and then placed the bat horizontally with equal grace. Laxman reached his 50 from 94 balls with five fours. But he was troubled by Lee’s persistence and fell eventually to the same Lee-Gilly combine when he misjudged the bounce and tried to duck as he got into a tangle where the ball popped gently off his gloves to land safely into the bigger gloves. Their fifth-wicket stand was worth 126 and was scored at more than three runs an over. It also restored some sanity to the team sheet that listed Irfan Pathan as the opener, though it was his more established partner that gave a positive point to pluck. Virender Sehwag got off the mark with the first ball of the day, and despite looking untroubled by the new ball that swerved little, he was stifled into frustration by the line of Australian new-ball bowlers. His usual flamboyance was missing, but Sehwag reached his half-century from 68 balls. Before and after Sehwag’s dismissal, the fall of a well-settled Rahul Dravid and a confident Sourav Ganguly threatened to scrap the one-batsman-less rule forever in this Indian composition. But by then Tendulkar had begun to dominate with Laxman nicely settling in. As India moved into shade, Australia struggled from the glare of Tendulkar’s blade.ScoreboardIndia (1st Innings): V Sehwag c Hayden b Lee 63, I Pathan c Gilchrist b Johnson 9, R Dravid c Ponting b Johnson 18, S Tendulkar batting 124, S Ganguly lbw b Hogg 7, VVS Laxman c Gilchrist b Lee 51, MS Dhoni batting 6; Extras (8 b,15 lb,1 w,7 nb) 31; TOTAL (for 5 wkts, 86 overs) 309Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-82, 3-122, 4-156, 5-282.Bowling: Lee 22-3-62-2, Johnson 25-4-72-2, Clark 16-4-48-0, Hogg 18-2-78-1, Clarke 5-0-13-0
