India vs SL: 1st ODI - Sachin announces his return in blazing style…

India – 350/6 50 Overs
Sri Lanka – 198 35.5 Overs

Man of the Match: Rahul Dravid

Sachin Tendulkar announced his return to cricketing world with a sparkling knock as India beat Sri Lanka by a huge margin. In a good batting track, Indians did justice to the talent portrayed only in paper for a while now. They got off to a splendid start, thanks to Sachin’s 93 and Pathan’s 84. Irfan Pathan, donning the ‘Pinch Hitter’ hat stuck to the plan and laid the much needed foundation along with Sachin. The blitz was continued by Dravid and Dhoni, which saw India reach a mammoth 350 runs. Dravid displayed some unorthodox cricketing shots to make a quick fire 85 not out, which fetched him the Man of the Match.

Sri Lanka lost early wickets and chasing a target of 350 was never going to be easy. The spinners did bulk of the damage and with such a huge score to defend; it was always going to be a matter of time. The Sri Lankans were all out for 198 and the debutant Santh picked up two tail end wickets to give him a little bit of confidence after being clobbered initially. This should boost his confidence levels – thanks to Dravid for throwing the ball to him.

This was a big team effort with almost every batsmen firing and a special mention about Sachin was only because he got back to where he belonged. Dravid mentioned that Sachin’s presence made a lot of difference. Well, that’s great, but there should be consistency and India can’t rest on their laurels as they usually do. India should put back the controversies that has been ravaging the team since the Zimbabwe tour and get to play some good cricket. Sri Lankans will definitely hit back and hit back strongly. It should be an interesting tussle…