"Only Dravid knows what he did," seemed to be the resigned feeling in the Indian camp after the declaration. Tendulkar himself was furious. In his own, understated way, he made it clear to avidly curious media that he had no idea that the declaration was happening just then.

"Yes, I was terribly disappointed, anyone would be when a score like 200 is around the corner," said Tendulkar. He said he "didn't really know" what had happened. "At the tea-break we had decided that we wanted Pakistan to bat for about an hour and we knew we had to play positively but I did not know we would declare just when Yuvraj fell. I thought we had a few overs left when I saw Rahul waving to us to come in."

He said he had not spoken to Dravid about it. "Once a team has declared, there is no point in going back and talking about anything. What's happened has happened."

But Dravid, whatever anyone says, would in one way, be justified for what he did. Logically, he would have wanted Pakistan in for as many overs as possible before stumps. And if that meant stopping the game just then before any more wickets fell -- with the momentum going India's way and despite Tendulkar being on 194 --- so be it.

In its own way, it's a very bold decision, one that would have required tremendous guts. Though Sourav Ganguly was present in the dressing room at the time --- he left soon after --- the buck stops with Dravid. And he would know that.

Johannesburg, Mar 10: 2003. Sachin Tendulkar may have missed his 35th one-day hundred by just three runs in India's Super Six match against Sri Lanka today, but the master blaster broke his own record of scoring the maximum runs in a single World Cup. 

When he moved from 46 to 50 with a boundary, Tendulkar aggregated 524 runs in this World Cup, going past the 523 he had scored in the 1996 edition at home. 

After today's innings, he has 571 runs from eight games and is certain to play at least two more knocks in this tournament. 

Tendulkar is also the highest scorer in all the World Cups with 1,630 runs to his credit after today's innings, miles ahead of Javed Miandad (1,083) and Aravinda De Silva (1,028). 

However, he missed an opportunity to score yet another ton when he top-edged a Aravinda De Silva delivery into the hands of wicket-keeper Kumara Sangakkara while trying to sweep. 

It was the second time in this tournament that Tendulkar has got out in the 90s. He was dismissed for 98 against Pakistan. 
 

Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar has secured the prestigious Man of the Tournament award at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003. 

Tendulkar's two points from the semi final with Kenya, where he scored 83 and took two wickets, were enough to establish an unassailable lead of four points over Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. He has now scored 669 runs at an average of 66.90 during the tournament, a new record aggregate, with one century and six 50s. Tendulkar is now also the heaviest scoring batsman in World Cup history, having passed Javed Miandad's previous career record. 

Dr Ali Bacher, Executive Director of CWC 2003, said: "We wanted this to be the best World Cup ever, and Sachin's brilliant batting has helped the tournament captivate many millions of people around the cricketing world. He thoroughly deserves this accolade " 

Sourav Ganguly's century in the Kenya game won him the Man of the Match award, but leaves him currently with 10 points, compared to Tendulkar's 14. 

Legendary West Indies all rounder Sir Garfield Sobers will present Tendulkar with a gold trophy worth 500,000 Rand at the end of the World Cup final against Australia tomorrow. The trophy, together with the gold watches awarded to all Man of the Match winners, have been donated by the Gold Mining Industries of South Africa. 

Man of the Tournament standings at the completion of semi finals: 

Sachin Tendulkar, India: 14 points
Sourav Ganguly, India: 10
Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka: 9
Marvan Atapattu, Sri Lanka: 8
Brett Lee, Australia: 7
Andrew Symonds, Australia: 6 

Leading Australian contender Brett Lee could finish level on points with Ganguly if he takes the Man of the Match award in the final, while team mate Andrew Symonds could tie with Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas for third place, if he claims the final award. 

Graeme Pollock, South Africa's champion left handed batsman will make the Man of the Match award at the Wanderers final. 
 

India captain Sourav Ganguly said there was every reason for his opposite number to choose to bowl first, after India's 183-run victory over Sri Lanka at the Wanderers. 

"There was a lot of moisture in the pitch early on so I knew he was going to put us into bat, but we just batted very well." Ganguly said. 

"We're very happy with the way we played today, we've done a very good job here today. We're a good unit, we know our strengths and we play to our strengths and we have match-winners in every position - that is the key." 

Ganguly was particularly fulsome in his praise for Sachin Tendulkar, who hit a six and seven fours in a 120-ball innings of 97, taking his run tally for the tournament to 571 in just eight matches. 

"He's playing as well as I've ever seen him, I think," said Ganguly. "The key this time is his consistency because he's doing it in nearly every match. 

"We've won again and winning is a good habit to get into. I thought Sri Lanka would put up a bit more of a fight, but it must be said that we batted superbly as a team." 

Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore is backing his players to bounce back in their next game against Zimbabwe, despite two crushing defeats by Australia and India. 

"The players got themselves into this - they can get themselves out of it," Whatmore insisted. "We've had a talk about things in the dressing room and basically that's a fact. 

"Myself as coach and the physio and the backroom staff share a responsibility but what ultimately happens, whether we win or lose, is down to the players in the middle to put right."

 January 06, 2003 13:07 IST
 

Indian coach John Wright on Monday come out in defence of captain Sourav Ganguly and said the return of Sachin Tendulkar could turn things in his team's favour for the remaining matches of the New Zealand tour.

"It's a difficult time for a captain when things are not working for you. I think you'll find he'll be opening the
batting in Wellington (venue for the fifth one-dayer), leading from the front," Wright said.

Ganguly has failed to contribute much with the bat in New Zeland scoring just 29 runs from four innings in the two-match Test series and a sequence of low-scores -- 14, 0, 4, 2 -- in the four one-dayers played so far of the seven-match limited overs series.

"Sourav will be fine. Being the captain of India is a tough job and we're all under pressure. We haven't had a run
like this before. It's upto the coach and the captain to supply some leadership and the players have to go out there and fight. That's one of the things which has helped us in the past year.

"The return of Tendulkar will clearly help. We can turn things around in the next few days," Wright said.
 

Tendulkar, world's leading run scorer in the shorter version of the game with 11,544 runs, is likely to play in the
fifth one-dayer after missing the first four matches due to a twisted right ankle.

India are likely to revert back to Virender Sehwag and Ganguly opening the innings in the fifth game, with Dinesh Mongia coming in at number three.

Harbhajan Singh is expected to join the eleven at the expense of one of the four medium-pacers who played at
Queenstown. However, the off-spinner's inclusion in the side would depend on the Westpac Trust pitch.

Wright said no one was taking the team's recent failures as hard as he himself.

"Coaching is a great job when things go well. But when it doesn't, it presents the greatest challenge. It is your home
country and we all wanted to have a good tour, particularly myself.

"But I'm not particularly worried what people think of me. I worry about the players, try to turn things around and
do the best job. The guys are pretty low in confidence because they are touch players and they haven't come to terms with conditions they've been faced with," he said.