Laxman scores his 13th century, India 393 for 3 at lunch

New Delhi, Oct 30 (UNI) VVS Laxman slammed a fluent century (104) as he along with Gautam Gambhir put on 236 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket to enable India pile on 393 for 3 at lunch on the second day of the third Test here today.

Laxman took the centrestage in the morning session and completed his century with some aggressive yet sensible stroke play, while Gambhir was batting on 191 at lunch with the home team in complete command.

Laxman drove Cameron White for a boundary to raise his 13 Test century and the sixth against Australia.

His century came off 171 balls which had 10 well-timed hits to the fence but had to wait for 11 balls to get to his hundred.

Meanwhile, local lad Gambhir, too continued from where he left yesterday and went into the luch with just nine runs away from his first double century as India garnered 97 in the first session today.

Resuming from the overnight score of 296 for three, the two made the Australian bowling line up look almost pedestrian and the duo raised India's 350 in the 14th over the day.

The new ball which was just four overs old failed to give any purchase to the bowlers on the placid Feroz Shah Kotla wicket and the Indian duo raised their 200-run partenership at a brisk pace in just 322 balls.

The Australian pace battery did try to unsettle him with a flurry of bouncers but the stylish Hyderabadi was unnerved. A stand-and-deliver shot off his front-foot from a Brett Lee delivery was just enough to indicate the touch he was in.

He then followed it with a superb pull shot off Mitchell Johnson as the fielders remained unmoved only to see the ball racing to the boundary.

At the other end, Gambhir was mustering his runs with some quality strokes to take singles and doubles along with an an occasional boundary. The left-hander, who was overnight just a single away from his 150, did not leave the job incomplete and looked solid to make the most of a flat Kotla track.

Gambhir's unbeaten 191 came off 362 balls with 25 fours and six that he hit off Shane Watson yesterday to complete his century.

The Delhi boy did have his share of luck when Matthew Hayden failed to grab his catch at first slip.

For Australia, the bowlers did try their best but the supremacy of the two Indian batsmen did not allow them to make any inroads in the hosts batting. The wickets column for all the bowlers remain unchanged in the morning session with Mitchell Johnson still being the most successful bolwer after he claimed the prized scalps of Sachin Tendulkar (68) and Rahul Dravid (11) yesterday.

Leg-spinner White looked as ineffective has he did yesterday and his five-over spell produced 25 runs for India.

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