BUT, THAT all-important century of Sachin Tendulkar failed to materialize yet again. He appeared to be in his element and was stroking the ball to all sides and picking up his runs in even singles – but, suddenly something snapped and he was bowled out on a score of 48.

However, all is not lost – the main thing is that India has won and the smiles have returned – even though Virender Sehwag did not contribute much. He was not in the 1st ODI and there was plenty of criticism – now, when he was recalled to the 2nd ODI, he did not bother to change his attitude and was as reckless as ever.

Virat Kohli played a stellar role in holding the Indian innings together after the failure of the big names and was ran out just after hitting a huge sixer – he had scored 77 runs.

Later, the responsibility of closing the gap and winning the match came on the shoulders of Ravichandra Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Those who pointed fingers at M S Dhoni for persisting with spinners on Australian soil should now reconsider their stand and modify their thought processes because it was Ashwin who did wonders – first with the ball by capturing 3 wickets and later with the bat by scoring 30 valuable runs to forge India’s win. He rightly deserved the Man of the Match award.

As to Sachin Tendulkar - there will always be another day for the Master Blaster to show his mettle.