SACHIN TENDULKAR revealed any thoughts of a double ton were pushed firmly to the back of his mind as he set about crafting the greatest ever batting display in oneday international history against South Africa in Gwalior yesterday.

The Little Master smashed a sublime unbeaten 200 to record the first ever double century in a one-day match and power India to a seriesclinching 153-run win over the beleaguered Proteas.

The previous record for the highest individual score in an ODI was 194, jointly held by Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar and Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry, but Tendulkar wrested that honour for himself with a remarkable performance.

Tendulkar built partnerships with Dinesh Karthik (79), Yusuf Pathan (36) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (68) as India reached a mammoth total of 401 for three.

“I’d like to dedicate this double hundred to the people of India who have stood by me no matter what for the last 20 years,” Tendulkar said after the victory, which handed India an unassailable 2-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

“There have been ups and downs, but they have supported me through it all.”

The 36-year-old, who was presented with a silver bat as a reward for 20 years in the game and will have a pavilion at the Gwalior ground named after him, claimed it was not until he was 25 runs short that he felt a double hundred was possible.

“I thought about the 200 mark for the first time when I was probably 175-plus and only 42 overs had been bowled,” he said.

“I felt I had a chance, but I didn’t think of it seriously until I got really close. Only then I thought there was an opportunity to be had.”

Tendulkar had opened the innings alongside Virender Sehwag before sharing sizeable partnerships with Karthik, Pathan and Dhoni.

Tendulkar’s previous best was 186 not out. He already has a world record 13,447 runs in Test cricket and has the record for most centuries in Tests.

Tendulkar also has the record for the most runs in ODIs, and indicated after yesterday’s exploits that he had no plans of retiring.

Scoreboard

India v South Africa At Kanpur

India Innings

V Sehwag c Steyn b Parnell ................. 9

S R Tendulkar not out ........................200

K D Karthik c Gibbs b Parnell ................79

Y K Pathan c de Villiers b van der Merwe ..36

M S Dhoni not out ....................68

Extras (lb3 w5 nb1 pens 0).......... 9

Total 3 wkts Innings Complete (50 overs) ............................401

Fall: 1-25 2-219 3-300

Did Not Bat: V Kohli, S K Raina, R A Jadeja, P S Kumar, A Nehra, S Sreesanth.

Bowling: Steyn 10-0-89-0. Parnell 10-0-95- 2. van der Merwe 10-0-62-1. Langeveldt 10- 0-70-0. Duminy 5-0-38-0. Kallis 5-0-44-0.

South Africa Innings

H M Amla c Nehra b Sreesanth .............34

H H Gibbs b Kumar ............................. 7

R E van der Merwe c S K Raina b Sreesanth .....12

J H Kallis b Nehra .........................11

A B de Villiers not out .................114

A N Petersen b Jadeja ......................... 9

J P Duminy lbw b Pathan ..................... 0

M V Boucher lbw b Pathan ...................14

W D Parnell b Nehra ............................18

D W Steyn b Sreesanth ....................... 0

C K Langeveldt c Nehra b Jadeja ..........12

Extras (lb5 w8 nb4 pens 0)..........17

Total (42.5 overs).................248

Fall: 1-17 2-47 3-61 4-83 5-102 6-103 7- 134 8-211 9-216

Kumar 5-0-31-1. Nehra 8-0-60-2. Sreesanth 7-0-49-3. Jadeja 8.5-0-41-2. Pathan 9-1-37- 2. Sehwag 5-0-25-0.

India beat South Africa by 153 runs.