Tendulkar ton in vain, India slump to heavy loss

Nagpur, 9 Feb: Sachin Tendulkar's defiant ton merely delayed the inevitable as India crashed to a humiliating innings and six runs defeat against South Africa in the first cricket Test here today.

The miracle that India needed to save the match did not happen and even though Tendulkar (100) starred in two brief partnerships and the tail wagged for a while too, it was not enough to avert what was Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first Test defeat as captain that came with full one day to spare.

Following on, the home side that resumed on 66 for two this morning, folded for 319 in their second essay to allow South Africa to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Down the order, Wriddhiman Saha (36), Harbhajan Singh (39) and Zaheer Khan (33) showed the kind of grit that was missing in most of their frontline batting colleagues.

India will now have to win the next match in Kolkata, starting on Sunday, failing which they would surrender the number one Test team's tag to the South Africans.

The defeat also exposed the batting frailties of the home side which sorely missed veterans Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, both recovering from injuries, in the middle order.

Tendulkar's 46th Test century, his fourth against the South Africans and first at home against the Proteas, was the lone significant knock in the entire Indian innings.

Tendulkar added 72 runs with Vijay for the third wicket and another 70 with Dhoni for the fifth.


(PTI)