JOHANNESBURG, March 23: It was meant to be Sachin Tendulkar’s day of destiny. It was meant to be Tendulkar versus Lee, immovable object meets unstoppable force. A sporting duel to die for. It never happened.

The world’s fastest bowler never even got to take aim at the world’s greatest batsman in Sunday’s World Cup final.

By the time Australia’s Lee was marking out his run-up, “The Little Master” was already back in the pavilion, dismissed by Glenn McGrath’s fifth ball, and India were heading for defeat.

Tendulkar’s departure broke a billion hearts and must have deflated his team mates as well.

It may yet reopen the interminable Indian debate over whether their best player should be granted his wish of opening the innings.

Saurav Ganguly’s side already faced a momentous task in chasing 360 for victory against the best unit in the world.

Without Tendulkar, that target galloped over the horizon as India went down by 125 runs.

Tendulkar must have been broken-hearted too.

Looking to hook his second boundary of the opening over, he got a leading edge and sent the ball straight up in the air. McGrath strode down the pitch, demanded the honour and claimed the catch.

As against Pakistan earlier in the tournament, when Tendulkar had scored a lightning, match-winning 98 and shredded the nerves of strike bowler Shoaib Akhtar in the process, Tendulkar had made a bold statement of intent by taking first strike.

This time, though, it did not work.

You could have heard a pin drop among the 31,000 crowd as Tendulkar trudged off.—Reuters