Right after the presentation ceremony on Sunday, Sachin Tendulkar’s metal cricket kit was carried downstairs and loaded into a waiting van. Never too keen on the Twenty20 format, Tendulkar — who didn’t play in the last two one-dayers — took special permission from board officials and returned early from Colombo, taking a midnight flight straight to Mumbai. The rest of the contingent will stay back for the one-off Twenty20 match on February 10. Meanwhile, there were plenty of check-ins and check-outs at the team hotel on Sunday night, with Sri Lanka’s T20 specialists taking over from the jaded one-day team.

Missed record

Mahendra Singh Dhoni broke the Indian record for consecutive ODI wins on Thursday night. On Sunday, he had the chance to break another one set by Sourav Ganguly, but let it go by. Dhoni used nine bowlers as he looked to slow down the marauding Lankans — only the second instance in Indian cricket after Sourav used that many against the West Indies in Baroda seven years ago. This was the ninth instance in one-day cricket that a team has used nine bowlers, the record so far. Interestingly, Dhoni’s other two options in the kitty, himself and Gautam Gambhir, have both bowled in international cricket before.

Mixed bag

Ravindra Jadeja will never forget the moment Mahendra Singh Dhoni ‘officially’ welcomed him into the Indian team and Sachin Tendulkar handed over his debut cap, with team mates cheering loudly in a small presentation ceremony before start of play. Fortunately, he salvaged some happy memories of his debut despite ending up on the losing side.

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