Many teams in one-day cricket have problems with their fifth bowler. India had trouble today with their first, second and third bowlers. Ashish Nehra, after impressing with the new ball in his first three outings in this series, was lacklustre for the second game in a row. After a wayward couple of overs, he at least got himself together to finish his first spell having conceded just 27 in 6, but no such deliverance awaited Zaheer Khan and Tinu Yohannan. Khan has been incisive at the death in recent times, but terrible at the start, and despite an early wicket, he was, like the threat of rain, all over the place. If he wasn't short, he was wide outside off, except when he strayed down leg, and Tinu Yohannan had clearly adopted him as a role-model, and rivalled him for waywardness. Khan gave away 32 in his first three overs; Yohannan went for 24 in his first two. In the finals, of course, Ajit Agarkar will replace Yohannan, but he is no miser in the first 15 either. Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight will be itching to have a go.

Despite this, India won, and the credit must go in equal measure to Sachin Tendulkar's magnificent century and to the brains trust which opted to move him down to No. 4. Early wickets fell, and Sachin emerged from the pavilion instead of disappearing into it, and all was well with India. Instead of the slam-bang Tendulkar fans love to watch at the top of the order, we saw a fluent, graceful and often stunningly improvisatory Sachin who can gave Michael Bevan a run for his money and, India would hope, will do just that in the World Cup. He was at his best today.

Sourav Ganguly also seemed to have regained his touch for the short while he batted. A silken cover-drive for four early on and a deft flick off his toes, both for boundaries, showcased him in an effortless vein which has been missing of late. His run-out was unfortunate, as he seemed set, attitudinally, for a long innings, but unlike Tendulkar, he is a man for the big occasion, and Saturday certainly is one. His bowling, beginning at a time when Sri Lanka was going at nine-an-over, was excellent: he bowled his ten overs for just 40 runs and one wicket. No one can accuse him of not leading from the front.

Sri Lanka will go home from here needing to regroup after a disastrous summer; India will go into the finals desperately hoping their bowlers can keep it together at the start. Both sides will wonder, however, why their cricket boards agreed to a hare-brained schedule which had Sri Lanka and India playing double-headers on weekends, and meeting each other for a day-nighter two days before the finals, while England got plenty of rest and gaps between matches. It is pertinent to ask how England – Nasser Hussain in particular – would have responded if they were at the receiving end of such scheduling on a trip to the subcontinent.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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