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Tournament heavyweights Delhi Daredevils crashed to a 98-run defeat against an inspired Mumbai Indians outfit that seemed determined to set the lopsided head-to-head record straight and, in the process, went to the top of the points table. Quickfire sixties from Sachin Tendulkar and Saurabh Tiwary took Mumbai to an imposing 218 but a batting line-up capable of overhauling the biggest of targets was bowled out with more than three overs to spare.

India have made a slew of changes for the final one-dayer against South Africa in Ahmedabad on February 27. The most significant of them is that openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag have been rested for the dead rubber. Tamil Nadu opener M Vijay and Karnataka fast bowler Abhimanyu Mithun are among the new faces in the 14-man squad.

Tendulkar batted all 50 overs during his unbeaten 200 in Gwalior while Sehwag played that match after suffering a sore back in the first game in Jaipur.

Sachin Tendulkar, who broke the record for the highest individual ODI score, overtaking Saeed Anwar and Charles Coventry on his way to the format’s first double-hundred, has said his ability to bat the entire 50 overs was a testament to his fitness after having played the game for more than 20 years.

It took nearly 40 years of waiting and it was well worth it. Sachin Tendulkar chose one of the better bowling attacks doing the rounds, to eclipse the record for the highest score, before bringing up the first ever double-hundred in ODI history. The spectators at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium became the envy of Indian cricket fans as they witnessed one of the country’s favourite sporting heroes play a breathtaking innings which not only set up a 153-run annihilation but also the series victory. He may have been run-out cheaply in the previous match, but nothing could deny him today – be it bowlers, fielders, mix-ups or cramps. Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan and MS Dhoni stood by and admired as the master unfurled all the shots in his repertoire.

Having failed to take advantage of the toss, Bangladesh paid the full penalty on the second day, as India’s batsmen built up a formidable total in favourable conditions. There were centuries for Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir put together their seventh three-figure partnership. With plenty of batting to come and the lead already well over 200, Bangladesh were staring at another heavy defeat.

It could have been worse if not for a Shahadat Hossan bouncer that didn’t lift appreciably and smashed into the side of Dravid’s face. He retired hurt straight away, and was taking for a precautionary check-up. By then, the partnership with Tendulkar was worth 222, with both men taking heavy toll of a tiring attack.

Bangladesh’s collapse, like India’s, started in the 15th over. India lost three wickets for six runs, Bangladesh lost three for five. India had 79 runs on the board before their collapse, Bangladesh 59. India continued collapsing, bad light granted Bangladesh stay orders. In fact the murky conditions allowed only 24.5 overs of play in the whole day, which means 90.1 overs have been lost on the first two days.

Bangladesh, all pumped up and incisive, roared back “extraordinarily”, taking eight Indian wickets for 130 runs and forcing Sachin Tendulkar to dig deep and try and take the visitors towards a respectable total. Shakib Al Hasan, who bowled 25 overs unchanged for 48 runs, and Shahadat Hossain, who bowled in hostile spurts, were at the centre of the comeback. The duo took four wickets apiece for 103 runs between them, and proved the Indians were “still human beings”. Every wicket pumped Bangladesh up more and was met with wild celebrations. The special one was Shahadat’s after Dinesh Karthik’s wicket – a finger on his lips, telling his opponents in no unsubtle terms to watch their mouth.

Sachin Tendulkar has opted out of the tri-series in Bangladesh starting on January 4. He will be replaced by Rohit Sharma in the 16-man squad. Yuvraj Singh has also been included despite a finger injury scare that kept him out of four ODIs in the five-match series against Sri Lanka.

Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar have been dropped and replaced by Sreesanth and Ashok Dinda, who made his Twenty20 debut for India earlier this month. Amit Mishra displaced Pragyan Ojha in an inexplicable game of musical chairs for the back-up spinner’s role. Ravindra Jadeja retained his spot as the lone allrounder.

After Virender Sehwag had bludgeoned 44 from just 28 balls, an unhurried and unbeaten 96 from Sachin Tendulkar took India to a facile victory that gave them a 2-1 lead in this five-match series. Sri Lanka had dominated the early stages of the match, galloping to 165 for 1 from 22.2 overs but they then subsided in bizarre fashion, undone by a combination of Ravindra Jadeja’s spin, poor shot selection and two wickets in two balls from Ishant Sharma, who had gone for 46 in his first three overs. They lost the remaining nine wickets for 74 runs and slumped to 239 all out, which India eased past with 44 balls to spare.

Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, and a dead Ahmedabad pitch (21 wickets and seven centuries in five days) put paid to Sri Lanka’s dream of a first Test win in India. Gambhir played out 110 deliveries for 40 runs, and Tendulkar 211 for 100 runs; both of them looked entirely at home in the role of saving a Test, not letting dot balls affect their minds.