SYDNEY: Sachin Tendulkar’s search for his elusive 100th international century fittingly takes him to the Sydney Cricket Ground for Tuesday’s second Test against Australia, an arena celebrating its own Test ton.

The “Little Master” came close to achieving the unique feat with his fluent 73 in the first innings of last week’s Melbourne Test, where India succumbed to a 122-run defeat.

But the SCG, hosting its 100th Test, is one of 38-year-old Tendulkar’s happy hunting grounds. He has scored three of his 51 Test hundreds there in seven innings and averages an incredible 221.33 at the ground.

Tendulkar has been stranded on 99 Test and one-day international centuries since scoring 111 against South Africa in the World Cup in March, but the odds are stacked in his favour in Sydney this week.

“You really think cosmos, the Almighty and the Hindu gods were going to allow him to score it (100th ton) anywhere but the SCG?” SCG Trust chairman Rodney Cavalier said in half-jest. “These things are preordained.”

Tendulkar’s returns at the SCG make for a compelling argument: 148 not out (1992), 241 not out (2004) and 154 not out (2008).

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said that based on Tendulkar’s batting form in Melbourne he is “guaranteed” to get his missing century in Australia.

“He looked very solid at the MCG on a pitch which had a fair bit of help for the quicks. His feet have moved superbly, which is an indication that his mind is thinking the right way,” Ganguly said.

“I can guarantee you that if he keeps batting like this he will make a major impact on the remaining three Tests and probably get past that magic landmark in this country.”

VVS Laxman, one of India’s batting failures in Melbourne, is looking forward with relish to playing at the SCG, which statistically is his most productive scoring venue outside of India.

In five Test innings at the ground he has scored three hundreds and averages 96.20, a far cry from his desultory two and one last week at the MCG.

But for all of the runs from Tendulkar and Laxman, India have only won one of nine previous Tests at the ground and they cannot afford to fall 2-0 behind in the four-Test series.

Australia’s pace trio, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus, took 19 of the 20 Indian wickets in Melbourne and helped rout the tourists for 169 in the second innings to bring off an emphatic win inside four days.

Ricky Ponting, who was the best performing Australian batsman with 62 and 60 in Melbourne, has scored the most Test runs at the SCG with 1,346 at 64.10, including five centuries.

England scored three centuries in their innings thrashing of Australia at the SCG a year ago and while spinners had a minimal effect on that outcome, the signs are that there will be more spin this week.

“Just from walking across the ground it looks a lot less green than it has been the last few years,” senior Australian batsman Mike Hussey said Sunday.

“The last few years have been really seamer-friendly and there’s been overhead conditions to help that as well, but it (now) looks definitely a lighter colour and generally it has slowed down a little bit and helped the spinners as the game’s gone on,” he said.

Squads:

Australia: Michael Clarke (captain), Brad Haddin, Ed Cowan, Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Michael Hussey, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Ricky Ponting, Peter Siddle, David Warner.

India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Pragyan Ojha.

SYDNEY: He is second highest run-maker in Test cricket’s history but Indian batting veteran Rahul Dravid remains a student of the game and was seen fussing on his technique during the net session ahead of the second Test against Australia starting on Tuesday.

Dravid requested coach Duncan Fletcher to have a close look at him while fielding coach Trevor Penny did the throw-downs from a shorter distance at the nets.

Thrice Dravid had his stumps rattled at the MCG which is quite unusual even though one of them turned out to be a no-ball.

The issue which Dravid wanted to sort out was why his defensive strokes on the off-side were creating a gap between his bat and pad.

From afar it appeared that Penny was suggesting Dravid wasn’t leaning enough on to his drives while Fletcher wanted his body and shoulder alignment to move in one line while pressing forward.

The visitors hit the ground by 0900 hrs this morning and went about their business with intensity. Opener Virender Sehwag though is never far from a wisecrack and when Fletcher came by the side of the net to look at his technique, the Delhi-dasher quipped: “What’s this, I just can’t see the ball.”

As a worried Fletcher came closer, Sehwag quipped “It’s the hangover of last night.” Fletcher quietly moved away from his corner.

Sachin Tendulkar looked completely at ease and faced usual throwdowns from Raghu. This is the venue which he calls his second home and a fair number were willing to bet on his 100th century at the SCG.

The tailenders also received quite a bit of attention in terms of batting practice. The Australian tailenders caused India grief at the MCG while there own weren’t remarkable.

Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan was one of the early ones to pad up at the nets.

By the looks of it, Virat Kohli should remain in the eleven. The Delhi youngster was almost taking the cover off the ball with his shots.

The two selectors, Narendra Hirwani and Mohinder Amarnath, also overviewed the camp.

There was the usual promotion for the McGrath Foundation, a breast cancer support and education charity organisation, which is the passionate cause of Australian bowling legend Glen McGrath.

The entire Australian team wore pink caps in support of the Foundation but interestingly, Indians too donned those pink caps as a gesture of support.

By all accounts, the Indians had a quiet New Year’s Eve last night though Tendulkar and a few other players, along with their wives, attended the harbour cruise.

In the afternoon on Sunday, the two teams were scheduled to have a tea session with Australian Prime Minster Julian Gillard.

SYDNEY: He is second highest run-maker in Test cricket’s history but Indian batting veteran Rahul Dravid remains a student of the game and was seen fussing on his technique during the net session ahead of the second Test against Australia starting on Tuesday.

Dravid requested coach Duncan Fletcher to have a close look at him while fielding coach Trevor Penny did the throw-downs from a shorter distance at the nets.

Thrice Dravid had his stumps rattled at the MCG which is quite unusual even though one of them turned out to be a no-ball.

The issue which Dravid wanted to sort out was why his defensive strokes on the off-side were creating a gap between his bat and pad.

From afar it appeared that Penny was suggesting Dravid wasn’t leaning enough on to his drives while Fletcher wanted his body and shoulder alignment to move in one line while pressing forward.

The visitors hit the ground by 0900 hrs this morning and went about their business with intensity. Opener Virender Sehwag though is never far from a wisecrack and when Fletcher came by the side of the net to look at his technique, the Delhi-dasher quipped: “What’s this, I just can’t see the ball.”

As a worried Fletcher came closer, Sehwag quipped “It’s the hangover of last night.” Fletcher quietly moved away from his corner.

Sachin Tendulkar looked completely at ease and faced usual throwdowns from Raghu. This is the venue which he calls his second home and a fair number were willing to bet on his 100th century at the SCG.

The tailenders also received quite a bit of attention in terms of batting practice. The Australian tailenders caused India grief at the MCG while there own weren’t remarkable.

Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan was one of the early ones to pad up at the nets.

By the looks of it, Virat Kohli should remain in the eleven. The Delhi youngster was almost taking the cover off the ball with his shots.

The two selectors, Narendra Hirwani and Mohinder Amarnath, also overviewed the camp.

There was the usual promotion for the McGrath Foundation, a breast cancer support and education charity organisation, which is the passionate cause of Australian bowling legend Glen McGrath.

The entire Australian team wore pink caps in support of the Foundation but interestingly, Indians too donned those pink caps as a gesture of support.

By all accounts, the Indians had a quiet New Year’s Eve last night though Tendulkar and a few other players, along with their wives, attended the harbour cruise.

In the afternoon on Sunday, the two teams were scheduled to have a tea session with Australian Prime Minster Julian Gillard.

SYDNEY: He is second highest run-maker in Test cricket’s history but Indian batting veteran Rahul Dravid remains a student of the game and was seen fussing on his technique during the net session ahead of the second Test against Australia starting on Tuesday.

Dravid requested coach Duncan Fletcher to have a close look at him while fielding coach Trevor Penny did the throw-downs from a shorter distance at the nets.

Thrice Dravid had his stumps rattled at the MCG which is quite unusual even though one of them turned out to be a no-ball.

The issue which Dravid wanted to sort out was why his defensive strokes on the off-side were creating a gap between his bat and pad.

From afar it appeared that Penny was suggesting Dravid wasn’t leaning enough on to his drives while Fletcher wanted his body and shoulder alignment to move in one line while pressing forward.

The visitors hit the ground by 0900 hrs this morning and went about their business with intensity. Opener Virender Sehwag though is never far from a wisecrack and when Fletcher came by the side of the net to look at his technique, the Delhi-dasher quipped: “What’s this, I just can’t see the ball.”

As a worried Fletcher came closer, Sehwag quipped “It’s the hangover of last night.” Fletcher quietly moved away from his corner.

Sachin Tendulkar looked completely at ease and faced usual throwdowns from Raghu. This is the venue which he calls his second home and a fair number were willing to bet on his 100th century at the SCG.

The tailenders also received quite a bit of attention in terms of batting practice. The Australian tailenders caused India grief at the MCG while there own weren’t remarkable.

Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan was one of the early ones to pad up at the nets.

By the looks of it, Virat Kohli should remain in the eleven. The Delhi youngster was almost taking the cover off the ball with his shots.

The two selectors, Narendra Hirwani and Mohinder Amarnath, also overviewed the camp.

There was the usual promotion for the McGrath Foundation, a breast cancer support and education charity organisation, which is the passionate cause of Australian bowling legend Glen McGrath.

The entire Australian team wore pink caps in support of the Foundation but interestingly, Indians too donned those pink caps as a gesture of support.

By all accounts, the Indians had a quiet New Year’s Eve last night though Tendulkar and a few other players, along with their wives, attended the harbour cruise.

In the afternoon on Sunday, the two teams were scheduled to have a tea session with Australian Prime Minster Julian Gillard.

SYDNEY: Senior Australian batsman Michael Hussey is a bit “nervous” ahead of the second Test against India as he has a feeling that, led by the iconic Sachin Tendulkar, the visitors’ batting line-up would click in unison in the match starting on Tuesday.

“I am a bit nervous. With the stars aligning with Tendulkar needing one more hundred (to get to his 100th international century) in Sydney — he has made runs here. It is ominous,” stated Hussey.

Australia won the first Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by 122 runs and Michael Hussey, with 89 to him, played a critical hand. The left-hander said the Aussies are bracing up for an Indian fightback in the match.

“They know their game so well, they have played in Australia and they could bounce back,” he said.

Hussey though took a lot of heart from the Australian pacers’ performance in Melbourne and felt if the SCG favoured the bowlers, it could still turn out to be tough for the Indians.

“We will see over the next couple of days what the conditions are. In recent years this pitch has done a lot, especially on the first day. In Melbourne, just outside the off-stump, there was extra bounce and seam movement which caused a lot of wickets.

“In Sydney, the wicket now has changed texture. While earlier it looked to be a real dust-bowl, it’s semi-friendly know and when overhead conditions are helpful, it’s tough to bat in the last few years, particularly early in the match,” he said.

“The Indian batsmen are extremely skillful. They know their game so well, they have played in Australia, they could bounce back but we can take confidence as well. Our bowlers were relentless (in MCG). If they remain so at Sydney, it would be tough fight for the Indians.”

MCG is still fresh in the mind of Hussey where, besides his runs, he caught a fierce cut off Sehwag which probably tilted the match decisively in Australia’s favour.

“We had a decent total; a chase of 292 runs was difficult but then Sehwag could destroy the game in two hours. If he had batted that long, India were on their way to victory.

“It was a huge wicket…we knew it and India knew it. It wasn’t the best ball bowled by Ben in his life. He bowled to Sehwag’s strength and I didn’t see all that fast. But it happened to stick. So in that sense I had a bit of luck and all the team were thankful that it stuck.”

Hussey also attributed the luck which he got first up in the second innings which got him going and put a match-defining innings together.

“It was a case of getting a start. Luckily for me it was on my pads (the first delivery). Sometimes it helps the confidence. They had us in trouble and they were attacking us, coming from over the wicket. It opened up scoring opportunity and enabled us to get a stand.”

Hussey couldn’t hide his disappointment on the first day when he was wrongly given out off a lifting delivery from Zaheer Khan.

“It was a reaction which said: give me a break. I was preparing so well, I felt good in mind, hitting the ball well, I don’t think I was getting any reward for it. So I was yelling at cricket gods to give me a break.

“I got a bit of break in the second innings and that’s how the game goes.”

Hussey also dwelled on his partnership with Ricky Ponting on the third evening which was worth 115.

“(When runs are not coming), I keep coming at the basics. They way I plan and think, you’ve got to have. I keep coming at the basics. I just know positive stick to my game, the way I plan and think, you got to have belief a score just around the corner, that’s basically I do.

“I wasn’t thinking about myself. My main thoughts were to get a stand with Ricky Ponting and I was not thinking about my spot in the team. We desperately needed a stand and I was lucky to be with Ricky with whom I have batted a few times.

Interestingly, while Hussey favours the use of Umpire Decision Review System, he feels the technology is still not fool proof.

“I am for the technology but then it can be improved, particularly the tracking system with the ball.

“Indians didn’t want to use it that’s fine. That’s fair enough. There is no greater feeling when a team is in trouble and you have a stand which can win the match. When you sit back and remember such feelings, it’s great; you get respect from your peers.”

The last time the two sides played here, it was an ill-tampered game which had “monkey-gate” and a lot of poor performances.

“That’s in the past. Players involved have moved on. Harbhajan (Singh) and (Andrew) Symonds played together for the Mumbai Indians in IPL. It no longer is spoken in our dressing room,” he maintained.