Left-arm paceman Mitchell Johnson took 5-64 and India lost
six wickets for 51 runs in a dramatic afternoon collapse on day three.
V.V.S. Laxman, who had to bat at No. 10 due to a sore back,
lasted only three deliveries before he offered a tame catch to Michael Clarke
which wrapped up the India innings.
Tendulkar's dismissal triggered the slide when spinner
Marcus North had the wicket of star batsman, who played across the line and was
trapped lbw.
“Australia bowled well in the last session and put us on the
back foot,” said Rahul Dravid, who scored 77 and shared a 79-run stand with
Tendulkar for the fourth wicket.
Tendulkar and Suresh Raina (86), added 124 for the fifth
wicket before things went haywire for India.
“Sachin and Raina were doing well for us - when their
partnership was broken, it triggered the collapse,” Dravid said. “The match is
not in any team's favor yet.
“We need to bowl well tomorrow morning and put pressure on
them. The first session will be crucial and decisive.” Dravid said India missed
Laxman's steadying influence in the middle order.
Tendulkar, the game's leading Test century scorer with 48,
hit 13 crisp boundaries and faced 251 deliveries in a flawless three-hour
innings.
Raina was lucky in the last session when he had two
reprieves. Wicketkeeper Tim Paine missed an easy stumping when the left-hander
was on 48 and Johnson misjudged a catch at mid-off when the batsman was on 59.
Johnson made amends to his earlier lapse in the field when
he had Raina adjudged lbw. The left-hander his 14 boundaries in his 128-ball
knock.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was also one of Johnson's
wickets when he was well caught by Shane Watson for 14 as the Indian tail-enders
fell quickly.
Earlier, after resuming at the overnight 110-2, India lost
only two batsmen in the pre-tea sessions with Doug Bollinger taking both
wickets.
Bollinger had night watchman Ishant Sharma for 18 in the
morning session and then had Dravid caught behind soon after the lunch break.
