In the end, it’s all too easy for India

And when they went out to bowl, they were edgy, though the Kenyans were never in the game. Once again the pacers — Srinath, Zaheer and Nehra — broke the back of the Kenyan batting but still the eyes were on the skies praying for the clouds to hold on.

They relaxed only after 25 overs, with the Kenyans were 82/5, 72 runs short of the target which would have been applicable under Duckworth/Lewis had the rains come down. After that it was just a matter of time before the innings folded, 91 runs short of India’s total.

But it was the Indian batting that once again satisfied today. In yet another planned assault, the Indians changed gears like a Formula 1 driver to pace their innings brilliantly. After scoring at the rate of four per over in the first 10 overs, the Indians plundered at the rate of nine per over in the last 10.

And on a difficult pitch. The degree of difficulty of any batting track can be gauged from the way Tendulkar plays. Today those graceful drives through cover or even the trademark straight drive were kept under wraps; instead, the master opted to paint with dabs, and nudges and other controlled strokes.

Despite the constant egging on by the crowd, Tendulkar seemed quite aware about the magnitude of the occasion today and chose to showcase his patience over his panache. And, as has so often been the case in this World Cup, showed his fellow batsmen the way to play on this wicket.

In conditions which the Kenyans pacers — Martin Suji, Thomas Oboya and Peter Ongundo — should have relished, it was the Indian batsmen who thrived. Not in terms of flowing cricket, bar Ganguly’s huge sixes, but in terms of runs and progress.

Sehwag, for one, had a tough time controlling his aggression but profited from the patience that emanated from the other end; the result was that the first wicket partnership scored a solid 74 runs in about 18 overs.

That happens to be an indicator enough of how difficult was the runmaking and how the most devasting opening pair controlled their insticts. Sehwag finally departed when the burden control got too much for him, mistiming a lofted shot off Ongondo to Maurice Odumbe. He scored 33 from 56 balls – not the Sehwag we know.

The Kenyan spin attack, which so far in the tournament has been the surprise package, at last met their match. The Indians have a reputation of ruining reputations of slow bowlers around the world. Left-arm spinner Asif Karim, who the other day at the same ground conceded just three runs from eight overs, was hit for four off his first ball by Tendulkar. As for Collins Oboya the skipper hit him for two consecutive sixes.

Since the outfield was heavy due to the overnight rain, Tendulkar took the aerial route to step up the scoring. He hit a straight six of Tikolo as he crossed the 600-run mark in this tournament. But, when on 83, he hit a short ball from Tikolo to the mid-wicket fence. Had the shot been a millimeter higher, it would have crossed the ropes and Tendulkar would have approached his fifth World Cup hundred, an all-time record.

But Tendulkar had played a knock that was so vitally important for the team. After his dismissal, Ganguly took over and built a skyscraper on the plinth Tendulkar had laid.

With wickets in hands Ganguly went for broke. As his five towering sixes had the birds around the stadium on edge, the skipper marched to his second straight ton against the Kenyans. Following up on his 107 not out in the Super Six match, the skipper now has a total of 218 — unbeaten both times – in the two games he has played against Kenya.

In the final onslaught Ganguly was helped by Mohammad Kaif, who scored 15, and Yuvraj Singh who scored 16. Under lights and in conditions highly favourable to the pacers the chances of Kenya chasing the score looked as probable as George Bush and Saddam Hussain exchanging Christmas cards.