Tendulkar enters 41st century!

By John Cheeran
Sachin Tendulkar entered 41st century on Wednesday in Baroda.
The most pleasing aspect of India’s total of 341 for three is definitely Tendulkar’s return to his old aggressive self as he hammered 100 off 76 balls against the West Indies in the fourth one-dayer.
Most of his trademark strokes were out there, the square cut and pull and his hunger for runs was evident as he shifted gears in the final overs.
Unlike Chennai, Indian batting kept his composure after Sourav Ganguly and Robin Uthappa gave another resounding start. Skipper Dravid and Tendulkar dug themselves in before accelerating the score. And it was remarkable that after a long time, Tendulkar took the initiative to go for the final assault.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni through his exuberant ways tweaked the Indian innings beyond 300 with some bold hits. All these should be positive footnotes to the four-match series.
More than the result, the series has given India the much needed confidence ahead of the World Cup after a tantalizing series in South Africa.
Yes, problems remain on both batting and bowling fronts. The runs that Sourav Ganguly, skipper Rahul Dravid, Tendulkar, Uthappa and MS Dhoni scored have come at near-perfect batting conditions.
Uthappa’s incandescent batting should ease the worries over a woeful Virender Sehwag.
And Dhoni’s big-hitting capabilities will be a source of solace in World Cup and beyond for India.It remains to be seen how they will behave if the ball wobbles and move around a bit.
I shudder to think of what happened (90 for seven) at Cuttack in the second one-dayer in this very series.