Seldom in international cricket has Sachin Tendulkar batted in front of so sparse an audience, one that reacted with feeble claps when he went past a fifty. But he was still happy enough to point his bat in acknowledgment at the 100-odd voices at the scenic Bellerive Oval ground.

Tendulkar’s knock of 63 from 54 balls showed that his experience still demanded a place in this young, exhuberant dressing room — and hastened the inevitable Sri Lankan defeat. The process was set in motion by Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma.

It’s a pity, though, that what was expected to be a cracker of a match ended in such a whimper — India hunting down the required 180 in 32.2 overs, snapping up a comprehensive seven-wicket victory with 106 balls still left to be bowled.

From the nasty T20 defeat in Melbourne to this win, it’s been a long journey. At different times, the bowling has been superb, the middle-order has blossomed, and now, even Tendulkar has fired at the top. All things considered, it does look like India are peaking at the right moment.

Perfect start

Mahendra Singh Dhoni finally called correctly. And the team that came into this match badly needing the four points, walked off with a bonus point as well. It was a complete team effort, but Tendulkar’s return to form outshone a maiden Man of the Match effort from rookie Praveen Kumar and Gautam Gambhir’s never-ending run of form.

In a predominantly off-side display, Tendulkar charmed with his precision to create gaps in a packed 6-3 field. He reserved all the brutality and power for the horizontal blade shots through point. He hit half of his ten boundaries in that region, two flicked off his toes behind square-leg and one each towards third-man, cover and fine-leg — the last one a paddle shot that brought up his 88th half century from 44 balls.

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