Sometimes being a a senior in the dressing room full of young faces can be difficult, but trust Tendulkar not to let anything bother him.

“I just tell them every time they see me they have to wish me ‘good morning, sir’,” he joked after his unbeaten 117 gave India a crucial 1-0 lead in the best-of-three finals against Australia in Sydney on Sunday.

“But we share our jokes and they are allowed to pull my leg as well. I’ve always been open and friendly and I crack jokes with them all the time,” he said.

Tendulkar insisted that he was not lonely in the dressing room. “I don’t know why people think like this. It is a team and once you are selected to play for India, nobody looks at your age. When I was 16, nobody would bowl slower to me — they would all have a go at me. When you cross the boundary line, only the performance counts,” he said.

Not just inside the dressing room and to his mates, Tendulkar can spread a few smiles even among the opposition player with his one-liners.

There was a quite flutter when a Brett Lee beamer clocked at 143 kmph landed bang on Tendulkar’s shoulder yesterday. That hurt for sure, and in a series as tense as this, the intentions of that delivery were being doubted.

But Tendulkar knew it was a genuine slip of fingers from Lee. When the bowler apologised, Tendulkar instantly brought a smile to his face. “All I told him was that when he comes to India to play IPL he’ll have to reply to my son, who is a big fan of his,” he said.

Pat for Rohit

Tendulkar was full of praise for Rohit Sharma, with whom he shared a match-winning stand of 123 runs.

“I’ve played a few games with Rohit but this was the first time that we had a long partnership. He was terrific, extremely calm and composed, which are his strengths. He’s got a tremendously wide range of shots and selects them well.”

There was praise in store for the leader of the unit as well. “Dhoni has done a terrific job as captain. The atmosphere in the dressing room is very good. I’m not saying that under Anil (Kumble) it wasn’t, but one-day cricket is fast-paced and everything looks exciting. In Tests you need to adjust according the situations and keep changing strategies. Both Anil and Dhoni have done a good job.”

Tendulkar admitted that in a best of three finals the gap between this and the next one is small, and that the timing of his knock couldn’t have been better. “The finals are a big occasion, and I’m extremely pleased. I don’t worry too much about criticism because people say a lot of things. Sometimes they talk because they have not been able to do certain things. My job is to play. I let them talk and keep quiet myself,” he said.

“To score a 100 in Australia was something I always wanted to do. To do it on a special occasion makes you feel even nicer. It’s going to be tough from here but we are all prepared,” he said.

Scoreboard

Australia vs India: Sydney, March 2

Australia:

A Gilchrist c Yuvraj b Kumar 7, M Hayden c Chawla b Harbhajan 82, R Ponting b Kumar 1, M Clarke c Dhoni b I Sharma 4, A Symonds c Kumar b Harbhajan 31, M Hussey run out 45, J Hopes c Dhoni b Yuvraj 15, B Hogg not out 23, B Lee c R Sharma b Pathan 17, M Johnson not out 6

Extras (b-1, w-7) 8

TOTAL (for 8 wkts): 239

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-19, 3-24, 4-124, 5-135, 6-173, 7-212, 8-231

Bowling: Kumar 10-1-49-2, I Sharma 8-0-32-1, Pathan 7-0-63-1, Harbhajan 10-0-38-2, Chawla 10-0-33-0, Yuvraj 4-0-18-1, Sharma 1-0-5-0

India:

R Uthappa c Hussey b Hopes 17, S Tendulkar not out 117, G Gambhir run out 3, Yuvraj Singh b Hogg 10, R Sharma b Hopes 66, MS Dhoni not out 15

Extras (b-4 lb-2 w-6 nb-2) 14

TOTAL (4 wickets; 45.5 overs): 242

Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-56, 3-87, 4-210

Bowling: Lee 9-0-33-0, Bracken 8-0-42-0, Johnson

10-0-70-0, Hopes 8.5-0-42-2, Hogg 7-0-38-1, Clarke 3-0-11-0

Result: India won by six wickets