If you're a music-lover, and most of us are, Sachin Tendulkar's innings today might have had you reaching for your Beatles LPs. During the first phase of their career, the Fab Four could do no wrong. They just had to hit the recording studio and then sit back and watch as the LP went to the top of the charts. If it didn't, they needn't have worried. Most likely, another Beatles single kept it from the No. 1 spot. It was that way with Tendulkar today. He wasn't anywhere near his imperious best yet he made 146 at much better than a run a ball. At times, watching him dismantle the Kenyan attack with steely precision, you got the feeling that he was just going through the motions. There was no challenge out there today, no Shane Warne or Damien Fleming to inspire him to the dizzy heights he reached at a sandswept Sharjah stadium in April 1998.

The early Beatles songs were light-hearted and frivolous for the most part. Please Please Me and I Wanna Hold Your Hand were far removed from the more introspective material that came later. This Tendulkar innings too was from the latter-day Beatles collection, more Norwegian Wood and Hey Jude than PS I Love You. You could see the intent in Tendulkar's eyes the moment he walked out to bat. The humiliating defeat at Port Elizabeth must have been on his mind, after Pat Symcox cast aspersions on his three runs from 20 balls against a "pop-gun attack".

You'll rarely see a Tendulkar innings where he scores this many without hitting a single six. The way he eased off the pedal as he neared his hundred, and the evident disappointment on his face after he was dismissed, showed how focused he was out there today. Sadly, that intensity took most of the joie de vivre out of his batting.

As for the Kenyans, they can have few complaints. After playing well above their station at St George's Park, the last two games have seen them get heavy doses of reality. Stellenbosch is wine country and today they were pulped like ripe grapes. With exposure to top-class opposition, they will get better. They need only look to India for inspiration. At the first World Cup in 1975, India were on the receiving end of a 202-run thrashing from England, with Sunil Gavaskar making 36 not out in 60 overs. Eight years later, they were world champions. There's a lesson in there somewhere for all of us who have been so scathing about Kenya's performances here.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor, Wisden Online India.

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