Tendulkar is just 250 runs away from the top

Sachin Tendulkar is playing on 87 at the Adelaide Test as I am writing this post. That has brought his Test career runs tally to 11703 runs, just 250 runs behind the leader Brian Lara who has accumulated 11953 runs. While Lara took 232 innings to compile his total score, Tendulkar is playing his 236th innings right now. Lara averaged 52.88 while Tendulkar’s average is hovering just above 55.

Will Tendulkar be able to surpass Lara in Australia with just one more possible innings? In fact, this is Tendulkar’s highest score at the Adelaide ground surpassing his previous best of 61 made during the 1999 tour.

Wow! Another Four! He moves on to 91 and just 246 runs away. Keep going man!

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Indian Cricket Team Composition for Adelaide game

There is much discussion going on about the team composition for the Adelaide game starting tomorrow. Should India retain the winning combination? Should they leave out Wasim Jaffer and opt for Harbhajan Singh? Should they pick Dinesh Karthik in place of Wasim Jaffar?

It is very difficult to answer these questions. As the pitch is expected to assist spin, there is some speculation that Harbhajan Singh will come in as the second spinner. With Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma and R.P.Singh bowling exceptionally well, the Indian team would not want to disturb their swinging medium pace team. So, the idea is to drop the underperforming Wasim Jaffar to make way for Harbhajan. Is that going to be a good decision?

You all might remember that India won their previous match at Adelaide about four years ago. Let us look at the successful team composition for ideas. Here is the list:

Batsmen:
Akash Chopra and Virender Sehwag (Openers)
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
VVS Laxman

Wicket-keeper:
Parthiv Patel

Bowlers:
Ajit Agarkar
Aashish Nehra
Irfan Pathan
Anil Kumble

Interestingly, 7 members from the previous victorious team are certainties for this game too. The best bowling performance came from Ajit Agarkar on the fourth day afternoon that shook the Australians. Agarkar never repeated that wonderful performance of 6 for 41, which set up the Indian victory. The best bowling performance in the first innings came from Kumble, 5 for 154. The batting heroes were Rahul Dravid (233 and 72 not out) and VVS Laxman (148 and 32). Rahul and Laxman repeated the Calcutta heroics again here, with a partnership of 303 runs, with Rahul taking the lead role this time.

So, going by that performance, I feel that India should not look into Harbhajan now. The team composition should remain the same. If Jaffar has to be replaced, then Dinesh Karthik should come in as the opener. This will help to restore the batting order as it is. India should go in with a winning mood and one batsman less will affect them.

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