By Julian Linden
Sydney - The final Test between Australia and India was heading towards a dramatic finish after an absorbing fourth day at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday.
At the close Australia were 10 without loss in their second innings, chasing a near-impossible 443 for victory or needing to bat through the final day to force a draw in captain Steve Waugh's 168th and final test.
India, who only need a draw to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy, declared their second innings at 211-2 with Rahul Dravid unbeaten on 91 and Sachin Tendulkar not out 60.
| The Indian batsmen went on a run-scoring spree, piling on 211 in less than 44 overs |
Australia were dismissed for 474 in their first innings to trail India by 231 but Indian captain Saurav Ganguly declined the chance to enforce the follow-on to give his bowlers a rest.
Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble destroyed the Australian lower-order to finish with 8-141, the best return by a bowler at the SCG in 106 years, while Simon Katich top scored for Australia with 125.
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Katich completed his maiden test hundred and shared in an eighth-wicket partnership of 117 with fast bowler Jason Gillespie (47) to help rebuild Australia's first innings after they slumped to 350-6.
They got within 38 runs of the follow-on target when Kumble dismissed them both in quick succession. Kumble then got rid of Nathan Bracken to end the innings and become the first bowler since Englishman Tom Richardson in 1898 to collect eight wickets in an innings at the SCG.
Ganguly decided not to enforce the follow-on but his tactics quickly became clear as the Indian batsmen went on a run-scoring spree, piling on 211 in less than 44 overs.
They lost openers Akash Chopra for two and Virender Sehwag for 47 but Dravid and Tendulkar ensured there were no more hiccups with an unbroken stand of 138.
Dravid, who finished the series with 619 runs at the phenomenal average of 123.8, almost certainly would have scored a hundred but was struck on the head by a Brett Lee bouncer, prompting Ganguly to immediately abort the innings.
Tendulkar followed up his career-best 241 not out from the first innings with a half-century to average 76.6 for the series.
India's late batting heroics were overshadowed, however, by Kumble's performance.
The 33-year-old, who is one of only two bowlers to take 10 wickets in a test innings after his career best 10-74 against Pakistan in Delhi in 1999, mopped up the final four wickets after taking the first four the previous day.
Kumble dismissed Lee for a duck in the fourth over of the day when Chopra took a neat catch at short leg but then had to wait more than two hours for his next victim.
Katich, playing in just his sixth test, had resumed on 51 and raced past his previous highest score of 75 that he made in the second test in Adelaide.
The 28-year-old survived a few anxious moments on 99 but regained his composure and drove Kumble to the boundary to reach his hundred. But he departed after lunch when he holed out to Sehwag in the deep, triggering a late collapse.
Gillespie, who had batted patiently until then, threw his wicket away when he danced down the pitch and was stumped by Parthiv Patel. Ajit Agarkar then held a running catch at deep backward square leg to get rid of Bracken for two and end the innings.
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