Tendulkar finished the day unbeaten on 191 and MS Dhoni was on 11, and with India requiring only a draw to win the series, there was no need for Dhoni to consider a declaration. How Ricky Ponting would love to have called a close to India's innings himself, after a day on which his attack looked toothless and failed to make a breakthrough until 3.21pm.
When they did, they quickly made it two. Vijay's edge behind off Mitchell Johnson was followed four balls later by the departure of the unlucky debutant Cheteshwar Pujara, who was padded up for more than six hours only to be greeted with skidder from Johnson, who trapped the new man lbw for 4.
Suresh Raina made 32 before he drove Michael Clarke to mid-off late in the afternoon, but by then India were within sight of Australia's first-innings 478. They had Tendulkar and Vijay to thank; their third-wicket partnership began on Sunday afternoon, stretched until after tea on Monday and was worth 308 runs. Both players batted wonderfully well, barely giving Australia the sniff of a wicket.
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