'Sachin's wicket was important'

Having stopped Sachin Tendulkar from getting to his 100th international century for now, Australian vice-captain Brad Haddin on Tuesday said his team would look to prevent the Indian icon from reaching the milestone for as long as possible.

“It will be a big occasion for the game if he scores his century but it is our job to ensure that it drags on for as long as possible,” Haddin said at the end of second day’s of the opening Test.

“Tendulkar’s wicket was very important. He is a great player and it was a special 70. It was good to see his back towards the end of the day,” Haddin said.

The wicketkeeper-batsman said the hosts will look to wind-up the Indian innings as early as possible tomorrow to claw their way back into the match.

“We will look to shut down the Indian innings tomorrow and try to create chances,” he pointed.

The cricketer avoided any comment on Dravid’s dismissal off a no ball. “It (DRS) is not being used so there is no point talking about it but the bottom line is it was a no ball and the batsman was not out,” Haddin said when asked whether it was right to use technology in case of judging a no ball and not using it in its entirety.

Haddin also added that India had the slight edge but his side would look to tilt the scale by putting pressure on the visiting batsmen in the first session on Wednesday. “We’ve about 15 overs to the new ball. If we can build some pressure with some dot balls and put some good overs together, I think we can get into that middle order,” said Haddin, who dropped Virender Sehwag on 58 and also had a poor day with the bat.