Champion Sachin tames the world champions

Sydney: It was the perfect setting for Sachin Tendulkar to silence his critics for once and all. A big game, India chasing a challenging total and the world champions to combat; after failing to deliver in most part of the series, Tendulkar smashed a blistering 117, which he will savour for a long time to come.
With India chasing 240 to go one up against Australia in the best-of three finals of the CB series, Tendulkar led the charge by carrying his bat through the innings to take the visitors home by 6 wickets with more than four overs to spare.

Tendulkar’s peerless knock came in 120 balls, which included 10 caressing boundaries. The master batsman battled cramps and tremendous pressure along with the Aussie intimidation, which included a beamer from Brett Lee and words of wisdom from Adam Gilchrist, to come up with his 42nd ODI ton and the first Down Under.

The Little Master received great company from Rohit Sharma, who plundered 66 crucial runs as the duo strung together an incredible 123-run partnership after India were reduced to 87-3. Sharma along with Tendulkar took India out of the hole very much like Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds did in the Aussie innings. In fact, the Indian duo went one step further as the two set up India’s remarkable win with the match winning partnership after India were in a spot of bother at one stage.

After getting off to a steady start, India squandered the initiative as a combination of brilliant fielding by the Aussies and some horrendous running by the Indians halted the visitors’ progress.

Robin Uthappa after hitting two cracking boundaries fell to a outstanding diving catch by Michael Hussey for 17. India’s man in form Gautam Gambhir soon fell victim to miscommunication with Tendulkar as India slumped to 56-2.