Is there anything left to say about Sachin?

Indian cricketers are hardly known to do their homework,individually or collectively.However for the series against Mark Taylor's men,at least one Indian batsman spent some time dwelling on how to counter Shane Warne.

Some say he studied video tapes of Warne's bowling - with a special eye on some of his more vicious deliveries - prior to the Test series.Others say he was pretty much focused on his battle with Warne.Whatever may be the reason,Sachin Tendulkar quickly showed Warne who is the boss.

Much of Warne's success depends on how quickly he is able to assert himself mentally on the batsmen - play on their minds.Tendulkar made sure that Warne did all the thinking for a change.

Rarely would you find Azhar or Tendulkar play in insignificant three-day games,which are more for the visitors' benefit and a few fringe players trying to break into the big time.Tendulkar,whose timing often leaves the fielders stranded,picked the right occasion to score a point. It was the tour-opener in his own backyard and the Mumbai skipper went into bat with one-motto - get after Warne.The rest is history.During that epic knock - 204* off 192 balls,the Little Master not only smashed everything out of the park.he also asserted himself in no uncertain terms against Warne.

Warne did win the next round in Chennai but the Little Big Man of Indian cricket just murdered him in the second innings.Those who were privileged enough to watch Tendulkar both in Mumbai and as well as Chennai were hard-pressed to choose which was the better of the two knocks.But then,that is Tendulkar for you.As Jeff Thomson put it,"Tendulkar was the outstanding difference between the two sides in the series."

The hammering Warne received in Chennai had a direct bearing on his bowling at Calcutta where he returned with his worst figures in Test cricket - 0 for 147 - as Australia lost the Test and the series. At Bangalore Warne did bowl at his best but Tendulkar just made sure - with another breath-taking hundred - that it was knockout as far as his three-round bout with Warne was concerned.No prizes for guessing who left hugging the canvas.

Azhar made India unbeatable at home. Of course, he owed much of his success to Sachin.But for Tendulkar's punishing blade, it would hardly have been a cake-walk for India.

It may not exactly have been a single-wicket tournament between Warne and Tendulkar,but perhaps the most lasting memory of the three-Test series would be the master-blaster in full flow and the blonde leggie holding his head in dismay.

Finally here are his scores during the Australian tour of India in 1998 where he attained Bradmanesque heights averaging 110.50 from 11 outings :