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World record ton for Sachin

In his 198th one day international, Sachin Tendulkar got his 18th ODI century (his 6th in 1998) and with that, went ahead of Desmond Haynes as the holder of the record for the most number of ODI centuries.

For India, a double record, to couple with Sunil Gavaskar's claim to the highest number of Test 100s.

Tendulkar the opener has been simply devastating. Starting out in the middle order where he mostly played little cameos, Tendulkar earned promotion to opener only in his 72nd ODI. And his first century came just 7 innings later, in his 79th. Between then and now, 44 half centuries, 18 centuries, and the guy is all of 25 years old -- makes you wonder what the final balance sheet is going to read like.

This innings would not make anyone's pick of top five centuries scored by the little champion -- until, that is, you factor in some extraneous considerations. This is what Sachin's itinerary has read like, these last few days: September 15, Tendulkar flies from Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai. A day later, he drives to Lonavla, having been told by his board that he is not required to go to Lonavla. On September 19, he ends up flying to Torono after all. On September 22, back to Mumbai. On September 23, back on board a flight, Mumbai to London, London to Johannesburg, a five hour layoff and then on to Bulawayo.

That is 29,004 miles logged, four continents touched, in the space of a little under nine days, Sachin in the process clocking 58 flying hours.

Any guy who has been on a transoceanic flight will tell you it takes a week for the body clock to begin working properly again -- which is what makes this innings all the more incredible.

This innings was also indicative of the new attitude Sachin has been showing ever since he was removed from the captaincy -- the man wants runs, and is hell bent on getting them. Where, earlier, he would have the opposition by the throat and then get himself out, he has increasingly learnt to check his own adrenaline rush, to settle down for the long haul.

And increasingly, centuries too seem to matter to him -- this was one he definitely set his sights on and worked for, as witness the fact that after soaring into his 90s off just 79 balls, he then got to his 100 only off the 104th ball he faced, taking a good 25 deliveries of cautious play to get past the milestone.

This determination to go on and on has, more than any other single factor, been behind India's spate of wins this year, so I guess no one in the dressing room will complain either, will they?

Such is his mastery that when he walks out wanting runs, he gets them -- look back at the year thus far, and you'll see what I mean. Kicking off with a century in Kanpur against the Aussies on April 7, he has had two more against the same opposition on April 22 and 24, then one against Kenya on May 31, against Colombo on July 7 and now, this one to take the record.

A phenomenal run by any yardstick, and at this point, Tendulkar alone knows where it will end.

Back to the game, and Azharuddin, yet again, won the toss and inserted the opposition on what looked a fine pitch for batting.

The Indian team was pretty much as we had predicted in the curtain raiser yesterday -- the only open slot was the number three berth, the choice being between Dravid and Sidhu. As it turned out, Dravid got the nod.

Since the entire transcript of our commentary is given alongside (see the links on the sports home page) we won't reiterate with detailed descriptions of each dismissal, sticking instead to broad outlines.

Ajit Agarkar had caused some worry in Toronto by pitching too short too often. Here, he went back to what he does best, bowling flat out and a fullish length in the corridor around off -- where his natural away swingers and leg cutters make life difficult for the batsmen. And as always when he does that, the early breakthrough was on -- Madonda, coming in for the injured Grant Flower, being drawn into a drive, the movement feathering the edge and Tendulkar at slip having no problems.

Interestingly, Srinath -- who was at his very best in Toronto -- seemed to slip a shade here. For one thing, I have rarely seen him overstep as many times in one innings as he did here. For another, his normally impeccable length and line kept slipping, the odd ball drifting wide of off or down to leg, with the result that he was -- despite trapping Goodwin in front of the wicket early on -- not as effective as he was expected to be against the Zimbabwe batting line up.

Alistair Campbell and Andy Flower are the two most accomplished batsmen in the side and when they were going good, it seemed like India would have good reason to regret the insertion. Campbell loves the lofted hits over the infield while Flower is as sweet a timer of the drive as you would want to see. Together, the two shrugged off the fall of the two early wickets and kept the tempo crackling, Zimbabwe going from 16/0 in 5 to 43/2 in 10 and on to 76/2 in 15.

In the process, the two also knocked Anil Kumble out of the firing line after just two overs -- Kumble's old problem of not being able to bowl to the left handers surfacing again -- and by any reckoning, had the upper hand at that stage.

Later in the innings, Kumble was to become the second Indian after Kapil Dev to claim 200 ODI wickets, the landmark coming in his 147th game.

And then Campbell fell as he so often does when in full flow -- playing a lazy, almost bored shot, in this case a drive at Robin without quite getting to the pitch, for Azhar to hold comfortably at cover.

That wicket triggered a slide that Zimbabwe never really recovered from, the side going on to lose both Grant Flower and Craig Wishart in the space of just six runs to finish at 104/4 in 20. Of the two dismissals, the one that got Flower was an absolute gem -- Harbajan, the most impressive of Indian bowlers today, got one to jump and turn from fractionally short of good length, Flower was committed to the forward push, the ball looped off the splice and Robin did a superman, running across and sideways at point, then diving forward, to hold.

Wishart, though, showed little commonsense, waltzing down the track at a point in the innings when consolidation was the prescription, to be deceived by Harbajan's loop and flight, Mongia bringing off the stumping with ease.

From that point on, the Indians were on song. Azharuddin, with his full team back under him, went on the attack, surrounding the batsmen with close in fielders for the off spinner, keeping his fielders inside the circle to make singles almost impossible to come by, and letting Robin and Harbajan check the run rate to almost a standstill (18 runs between overs 20 and 30).

The trouble with the Zimbabwe innings was that each time a recovery seemed imminent -- as when Craig Evans and Heath Streak, putting their natural big-hitting instincts in the deep freeze and playing with admirable commonsense, took the score along with placements -- some batsman or the other committed harakiri. In Streak's case, it was the cardinal sin of backing up too far -- Evans played to point, Dravid was quick on the pickup and return to the bowler's end and Streak was about halfway down the track as the throw flew in.

Evans, too, was to lose his cool later in his innings, attempting to give Harbajan the charge and misreading the flight to hole out in the deep. But on the reverse side, Guy Whittal and Paul Strang showed why it makes sense to bat out the overs -- at the 40 overs mark, Zimbabwe was in big trouble at 162/8 and from there, the two brought the side to what was, if not a winning total, at least not a disgraceful one on a track that rolled out into a good batting pitch.

214 was never going to be enough of a target, though, on this pitch, against the Indian lineup, with the Zimbabwe attack already weakened by the absence of Eddo Brandes. Mbwangwa, the second seamer, doesn't have the experience of Brandes and Streak, and it showed in the way he kept drifting to leg, letting Sachin in particular get too many gimme balls.

Ganguly, after his man of the match effort in the first game of the Sahara Cup, has been on a slump and it continued here, as the left hander touched one from Streak into the keeper's gloves as he tried to play down to third man.

That brought Dravid to partner Sachin, and the batsman must have sighed with relief at actually getting to go in at the number three slot -- often of late, he has found himself being pushed lower and lower down the order, which can be a bit unsettling.

There were two moments, in the first ten overs, when Zimbabwe could have brought itself back into the game. Tendulkar drove at Mbwangwa, aiming to hit over mid on, didn't middle the shot and Evans got both hands to the ball as it went overhead, only for the chance to spill. And in the tenth over, off the same bowler, Sachin went for a hit over mid off this time, and again, a high overhead chance was spilled.

At this point, Sachin seemed intent on hitting his way out of whatever was physically bothering him. But after the second let off, it was like he got a second wind -- from that point, he was pure majesty, playing -- as he always does -- the dominant role in a 180 run partnership for the second wicket.

What Dravid has needed, meanwhile, has been a decent outing with the bat. Here, he seemed full of nerves early on, and Streak in particular bowled him a series of yorkers, testing him right at the outset.

But once he weathered that barrage, Dravid settled down to bat himself back into form. And with Sachin cruising at the other end, India pulled smoothly away, going from 56/1 in 10 to 110/1 in 20, 155/1 in 30, 177/1 in 40. Quite literally, the two batted Zimbabwe out of the park, no bowler making any impression whatsoever on either batsman.

Sachin duly got his 18th, raised both arms in triumph and Dravid, who had greeted his own 50 a while earlier with a look of relief on his face, chose that point to try and go over the top, ending up finding mid off's midriff with India just 5 short of the target -- duly passed a while later with another trademark Tendulkar cover drive off the front foot.

Tendulkar was applauded all the way out of the ground, and -- throw your mind back to his recent frequent flier antics -- the inevitable man of the match was richly deserved.

That gives India a 1-0 head start in the series with the second game to be played tomorrow -- and I would think we are looking at an unchanged side for the game.

Be interesting to see tomorrow's match -- if only because it will take a few games to really confirm whether the team, till recently split amoeba-fashion between Kuala Lumpur and Toronto, are really back together again, not just in the flesh but also in spirit.

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