India's Tendulkar eyes milestone against Australia

MOHALI, India (AFP) — Sachin Tendulkar will resume his quest to become the world's most prolific batsman when India take on Australia in the second Test starting here Friday.

Tendulkar needs just 15 runs to overtake West Indian Brian Lara's Test match tally of 11,953 runs and establish a fourth world record in his illustrious career.

The 35-year-old is already the world's top-scorer in one-day internationals (16,361) and has the most centuries in Test matches (39) and one-dayers (42).

The master batsman came close to surpassing Lara's milestone in the second innings of the drawn first Test in Bangalore where his gritty 49 helped steer the hosts to a draw.

Australian paceman Brett Lee said his team had planned well for Tendulkar ahead of the series.

"Sachin is world-class player," Lee told reporters here.

"We had a plan in place for him in the first Test. It worked in the first innings but in the second he got a start and played very well.

"He has a lot of experience and can hang in there if the situation so demands. That is why I love the challenge of bowling to the Little Master."

The other senior batsmen in the Indian side, including Venkatsai Laxman, Rahul Dravid and the retiring Sourav Ganguly, also hit valuable innings to rescue India from defeat.

However, skipper Anil Kumble left many questions hanging over his form and fitness with the 37-year-old veteran leg-spinner going wicketless for only the third time in his Test career, the first time ever in front of a home crowd.

The captain also dropped two catches off his own bowling to cap a miserable outing.

Kumble will assess his fitness before deciding on his availability for Mohali, where the wicket is known for being lively and may tempt India to use an extra fast bowler at his or Harbhajan Singh's expense.

Singh took just one wicket in Bangalore but hit a handy 54.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting's spin options include specialist Cameron White, who claimed Tendulkar as his maiden Test scalp in Bangalore.

Part-time spinner Michael Clarke contained the Indian batsmen and took two wickets despite the track providing little assistance to the slow bowlers. Off-spinner Jason Krejza is also available, although he failed to shine in a warm-up game in Hyderabad before the first Test.

The action off the field has heated up ahead of the Test, with Indian paceman Zaheer Khan doubting Australia's bowling ability and Ponting retorting by saying only his team played aggressive cricket throughout.

Lee echoed his captain's views.

"We are proud of the way we played. We could have taken more wickets on the last day but that was not to be.

"We have come to win matches and hopefully we will turn things around and win the match here as well as the series.

"There are a lot of things India can say -- that they had a mental win -- but in hindsight we are very happy with the way we played.

"It's only been one match, so the guys who have not had a chance to fire have three more games to get going."

The Mohali Test will be followed by matches in Delhi and Nagpur.