Tendulkar passes Lara milestone

Sachin Tendulkar salutes the Mohali faithful after passing Brian Lara's run milestone

Buy this photo

Sachin Tendulkar became the most prolific batsman in Test history when he overhauled Brian Lara’s record of runs.

The Indian sparked celebrations when he reached 16 shortly after tea on the first day of the second Test against Australia in Mohali.

The 35-year-old, who made his debut in 1989, went past Lara’s tally of 11,953 as India reached 177 for four.

Tendulkar, in partnership with Sourav Ganguly, was then looking to go on to rebuild India’s innings after Australia had undermined their strong start.

Three wickets just before tea had seen India slip from 146 for one to 163 for four, with Mitchell Johnson having claimed three for 48.

Gautam Gambhir (67) and opening partner Virender Sehwag belted Australia's bowlers around the park early on, quickly amassing 70 runs for the first wicket.

Sehwag, who struck consecutive blows off debutant paceman Peter Siddle's fourth over, hit six boundaries in a 36-ball 35 before he fell to Johnson.

The left-arm paceman had baited Sehwag with a short-of-length delivery down leg, Sehwag responding with a feeble glance and edging to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.

Gambhir was equally ferocious as he stepped out to hit successive lofted boundaries off part-time spinner Michael Clarke to bring up his half-century.

Rahul Dravid looked in fine touch and was the dominant partner in a 76-run stand with Gambhir before edging onto his leg stump off Brett Lee.

Gambhir was dismissed in the next over from Johnson, a thin outside edge flying to Haddin.

Johnson then claimed the wicket of VVS Laxman as he induced an edge from a delivery that was going down leg side and Haddin held a comfortable catch.

Those wickets effectively stemmed the flow of runs and forced Tendulkar and Ganguly into damage-control mode.

Ganguly looked scratchy, playing and missing a couple of deliveries outside off stump, and Tendulkar, no doubt feeling the pressure of his impending record, also looked nervy before tea.