Sachin Tendulkar's return to form for India is a welcome sight

Good to see Sachin Tendulkar making Test runs again, in Chennai against Australia, wasn’t it? Masterful once more: Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar plays a shot Photo: GETTY IMAGES SCYLD BERRY India tour will test Clarke's resolve SCYLD BERRY A power shift in women's cricket SCYLD BERRY De Villiers continues to raise the bar SCYLD BERRY Can you name the best in Test, ODI and T20? SCYLD BERRY Indian umpires frankly 'abysmal' SCLD BERRY A memo to commentators SCYLD BERRY South Africa shake off choker tag SCYLD BERRY Cricket resumes undiminished SCYLD BERRY Nagpur is fantastic - if you can get in SCYLD BERRY Maidans yield hope for Test future SCYLD BERRY How Panesar makes a difference SCYLD BERRY First Test spun out by Indian media SCYLD BERRY Tendulkar is far from finished SCYLD BERRY One size fits all for Ayrtek, the helmet that inflates SCYLD BERRY Playing Bangladesh is batsman's dream SCYLD BERRY Tactical retirements not against game spirit SCYLD BERRY Naib a star of the World T20 SCYLD BERRY Rehman's nine-fer sole summer memory SCYLD BERRY Goodbye T20, hello 10-over cricket SCYLD BERRY Foreman forerunner for SA's multiracial team SCYLD BERRY Strauss one of England's very best SCYLD BERRY KP or not KP, that is the question... SCYLD BERRY England will still win the Ashes SCYLD BERRY Who is cricket's best coach? By Scyld Berry3:02PM GMT 27 Feb 2013Comment Around the world ‘government’ seems to have become another name for ‘kleptocracy’, and archbishops can no longer be trusted, but Tendulkar keeps on batting - in his 24th year of Test cricket - as a sign of enduring quality. In the four Tests against England before Christmas his hunger was evident but no footwork. In more than a year he had made one Test fifty. But from the first ball he faced in Chennai he was back to something close to his old self, placing his front foot across to a wide ball from James Pattinson and driving it square for four. Tendulkar steered his second ball to third man for four more, and glanced the fourth to the boundary again: 12 runs off four balls, as many as he got in whole Tests against England. Soon he was playing the ball back where it came from, or between the bowler and mid-on, without any gap between bat and pad. It was a crisis too, as India were 12 for two in reply to Australia’s 380 when Tendulkar went in. Related Articles India claim eight-wicket win over Australia 26 Feb 2013 Australia dig deep fighting a lost cause in India 25 Feb 2013 MS Dhoni double century puts India in control against Australia 24 Feb 2013 Clarke aids Australia recovery with century 22 Feb 2013 India tour will test Clarke's resolve 20 Feb 2013 Afghanistan asks for India's cricket advice 19 Feb 2013 He took the lead in turning the tide in his partnerships with Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, and paved the way for MS Dhoni to run amok with the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper, 224, which buried Australia. Tendulkar was bowled before he could reach his 101st international century by a fine offbreak, as good as the one with which Michael Vaughan surprised him a decade ago in a Trent Bridge Test. But his 81 had set his country on course and kept him in the side. By the end of this series he will have played 198 Tests. Just as he was the first to score 200 in a one-day international, Tendulkar will surely be first to play 200 Tests. India’s schedule after the Champions Trophy in June is not confirmed, but a two-Test series against Zimbabwe can be arranged if nothing else. In the field too Tendulkar contributed, which was seldom the case in the series against England. He once chased back from point towards the third man boundary and did a diving stop to save a run, rising rather flushed and pleased with this new antic in his 40th year. The proof that he was back came in his second innings. He drove the first two balls he received from Nathan Lyon, who had got him in his first innings, over long-on for six. For about half of the cricket followers in the world, certainly in India, Tendulkar has been a permanent fixture in the Indian Test side for half of their lives. His great contemporaries have passed on, like Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting. There might not even be great Test batsmen in future if everyone grows up playing 20-over cricket and trying a shot a ball. But for a while longer the Old Master can be admired.