By Our Correspondent
Gwalior, 24/02/2010
India set themselves up for a series-clincher in the most brutal manner possible, with a little help from a certain Sachin Tendulkar, who brought up one-day cricket's first ever double-century, a good 39 years after the official entry of this format. The crescendo of the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior, was the ideal setting for Tendulkar to shatter one record after another and by the end of 50 overs, his flawless knock and a smashing unbeaten 68 by MS Dhoni took India to 401. In the 46th over, Tendulkar, on 193, broke the world record for the highest ODI score with a flick past short fine-leg. He ran two to surpass Zimbabwe's Charles Coventry and Pakistan's Saeed Anwar, and to say that he modestly acknowledged his feat would be an understatement. He didn't raise his bat, and just merely shook hands with Mark Boucher and simply carried on batting amidst the din. Coming from a man who is not known to showing too much emotion with the bat in hand, it wasn't surprising.
He reserved his celebrations for the magic figure of 200, which he reached in the final over with a squirt off Charl Langeveldt past backward point. He raised his bat, took off his helmet and looked up at the skies and it was only fitting that one-day cricket's highest run-getter reached the landmark. Tendulkar's innings featured strokes of the highest quality, but his true genius was exemplified with one particular shot which wouldn't be found in a coaching manual. In the first over of the batting Powerplay - taken in the 35th over - Dale Steyn fired a full, quick delivery outside off but Tendulkar walked right across his stumps and nonchalantly flicked him across the line, hopping in his crease on one leg to bisect the gap at midwicket. A helpless Steyn watched the ball speed away and merely shrugged his shoulders. There was no use searching for excuses or venting frustrations at the temerity of that shot. It was just that kind of afternoon for the bowlers.