Tendulkar's Treat

This is why we come. Occasionally the grand occasion coincides with the presence of a genius at the peak of his powers and we are mesmerised. Sachin Tendulkar played an innings of 98 from 74 balls that transcended all the squabbles of this World Cup.

For two hours Tendulkar bewitched a capacity crowd and sent his adoring supporters into ecstasy. For the neutrals it was a privilege to witness a sublime innings that touched perfection - one of those 'I was there' moments.

Pakistan and their fans were simply helpless and as a consequence India won by six wickets with more than four overs to spare, a result that England will probably welcome, though they still need Pakistan to beat Zimbabwe on Wednesday.

Now the competition is well and truly launched. The grand stage had been prepared. Centurion basked in sunshine; the flags were unfurled in good humour, which was enhanced by a timely gesture. Before the first meeting between these two sides for two-and-a-half years, the players of both sides shook hands publicly. And soon Tendulkar, who had anonymously patrolled the boundary while Pakistan compiled an impressive 273 for seven, graced the centre.

No one on the planet can play like this and I'm not even sure that Tendulkar himself has played so sublimely in one-day cricket. He did offer one chance; Abdur Razzaq dropped him at mid-off when he was on 32. Razzaq had better enlist some more security guards for his house back in Pakistan.

Otherwise Tendulkar was awesome. They sometimes quibble that he is a player of great knocks rather than match-winning innings. This innings put that charge to bed: this is the World Cup; the opponents were Pakistan and his team faced a formidable total; they needed someone to assert himself. It took him two overs. After a classical back-foot drive off Wasim, he turned his attention to Shoaib Akhtar, the fastest bowler in the world.

First he unfurled an intentional upper-cut which sailed for six over the boundary at backward point. Next came the imperious flick off his pads, which raced to the longest boundary. This was followed by a forward defensive stroke, which sped to the long-on boundary, the most astonishing shot of the lot. It is not possible to bat better than this.

Thereafter the catalogue of wonderful strokeplay continued. Waqar removed Shoaib after one over, only to be punished himself. Tendulkar was hitting good balls for four with classical orthodoxy. In a form of the game where it is not possible to retreat by bowling outside leg-stump, as England did on their last Test tour of India, they could not stop him.

There were some hindrances for the little master. In the sixth over he lost two of his partners. Virender Sehwag, who had emulated that upper-cut six, cracked a full-length ball from Waqar Younis to cover and Saurav Ganguly was lbw to his first ball. By the time Tendulkar had reached 80 and his 12,000th run in one-day internationals, he was hampered by a thigh strain. But in this mood Tendulkar on one leg was some obstacle.

In the end, that may have contributed to his downfall. After a prolonged stoppage for treatment, his movement was inhibited against a short ball from Shoaib and a catch was spooned to backward point. But the damage had been done and Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh ensured that India retained their stranglehold.

Tendulkar overshadowed performances that would have been memorable on another day. After Pakistan had won the toss, Saeed Anwar hit his twentieth one-day century and it was good enough to grace the occasion. Saeed is only a minor genius, but some of his late-cutting was brilliant, even if Ganguly was slow to adjust his third man accordingly.

Ashish Nehra, the tormentor of England in Durban, suffered more than anyone, yielding 74 runs from his ten overs.

Inzamam-ul-Haq added only six runs to his World Cup tally - it's now 16 - though he did look in decent form this time. He was off the mark with sweet, lofted drive off Anil Kumble, but was soon haplessly run-out for the 35th time in his one-day career. Inzamam has worked hard to change his shape before this World Cup; he must wonder whether it's been worthwhile.

At the end of the Pakistan innings, Rashid Latif scampered 29 from 25 balls. He was, however, hit on the helmet by Zaheer Khan, which prevented him from keeping wicket. Taufeeq Umar was given the task of standing in, not a straightforward operation with Shoaib tearing in. At least he had a wonderful vantage point to witness Tendulkar in his pomp.

PAKISTAN

Saeed Anwar b Nehra 101

Taufeeq Umar b Khan 22

Abdur Razzaq c Dravid b Nehra 12

Inzamam ul-Haq run out 6

Yousuf Youhana c Khan b Srinath 25

Younis Khan c Mongia b Khan 32

Shahid Afridi c Kumble b Mongia 9

Rashid Latif not out 29

Wasim Akram not out 10

Extras b2 lb7 w11 nb7 27

Total 7 wkts (50 overs) 273

Fall of wickets 1-58 2-90 3-98 4-171 5-195 6-208 7-256

Bowling Khan 10-0-46-2; Srinath 10-0-41-1; Nehra 10-0-74-2; Kumble 10-0-51-0; Ganguly 3-0-14-0; Sehwag 4-0-19-0; Mongia 3-0-19-1

INDIA

S R Tendulkar c Younis Khan b Shoaib Akhtar 98

V Sehwag c Shahid Afridi b Waqar Younis 21

S C Ganguly lbw b Waqar Younis 0

M Kaif b Shahid Afridi 35

R Dravid not out 44

Yuvraj Singh not out 50

Extras b1 lb3 w19 nb5 28

Total for 4 wkts (45.4 overs) 276

Fall of wickets 1-53 2-53 3-155 4-177

Bowling Wasim Akram 10-0-48-0; Shoaib Akhtar 10-0-72-1; Waqar Younis 8.4-0-71-2; Shahid Afridi 9-0-45-1; Abdur Razzaq 8-0-36-0