Australia's advantage lost as Tendulkar and Vijay hammer Australia: T2D3

India 5/435 (122 ov, S Tendulkar 191*, M Vijay 139) are 43 runs behind Australia with 5 first innings wickets in hand: T2D3 at Bangalore.

If you get a chance, watch the highlights of this day's play, in which Sachin Tendulkar played a masterly innings of 191*and with Murali Vijay 139 added 308 for the 3rd wicket.

The day's proceedings began with Tendulkar hititng two fours from the hapless Nathan Hauritz's first four balls. India didn't continue in this vein but there were flurries of aggression against the Australian bowlers, Ben Hilfenhaus excepted, intermingled with quieter passages of play.

For the third consecutive day no wicket fell in the first session as India added 96 from 26.4 overs and Tendulkar, to nobody's surprise, passed his - 49th in Tests -century. Nor did a wicket fall in the second session as Vijay passed his - 1st in Tests -also.

Eventually Mitchell Johnson had a tired looking Vijay caught behind for 139/310b (2x6, 14x4). 3/346: still some way for India to go but it was hard to imagine Australia clawing back from there.

Spare a thought for Cheteshwar Pujara . After waiting for so long to bat (and for his Test debut) he got off the mark with an elegant cover drive to the boundary only to be given out lbw to a ball which Hawkeye confirmed would have hit leg stump.

Suresh Raina, as the situation demand, made a breezy 32/43b (5x4) before holing out to mid on off Michael Clarke, who like Simon Katich bowled a few overs. I couldn't understand why Marcus North, who after all dismissed Tendulkar for 98 in T1, didn't get a bowl.

Back to Tendulkar. For a 37 yo showed few signs of fatigue let alone lapses of concentration. He stayed with MS Dhoni, who must fancy his own chances of getting a few runs on this track against this attack, until close of play when he was 191*/319b (2x6, 20x4) and India clearly with the upper hand despite the 43 run deficit.

Sachin will no doubt be looking at posting a personal 200... and more, and giving India a substantial lead. It's almost impossible to see how Australia can win from here: An India victory or a draw are the likeliest outcomes.

If you can, watch Sachin bat today.

Scorecard

Fox Sports report with link to video highlights

Times of India report

Crinfo Bulletin