PTI

London, Sep 10: Umpire Aleem Dar’s horrendous decision against Sachin Tendulkar not only doomed India in Saturday’s series decider against England but also underlined the side’s inability to overcome occasional hiccups and sail through with a team effort.

And as much can be said about the Indian batting that still rests so heavily on the strong shoulders of the one and only Tendulkar.

The Mumbaikar emerged as India’s top scorer in the ODI series with 374 runs against his name, that included four half centuries. He averaged 53.42 and had a healthy strike rate of 85.77.

India’s spectacular batting collapse after Tendulkar’s exit in the series decider only underlines the fact that after all these years, the little champion’s contribution remains crucial to the team’s success. It also begs the question whether India continues to be a one-man army.

And the degree to which Tendulkar still holds the key to India’s fortunes can be judged from the fact that in all three games that Indian won, it was the 34-year old who piloted the side with his vintage form.

It was the same story in Belfast when India beat South Africa for the first time in a one-day series on a foreign soil.

In the ODI series against England, Tendulkar’s scores of 99 (Bristol), 71 (Leeds) and 94 (Oval) played a major role in India’s victories.

And when he got another bad decision, this time in his farewell innings at Lord’s for 30, the team collapsed like a house of cards.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni did score a fighting half-century but the collective tally of the remaining nine batsmen was less than a hundred that showcased India’s abject surrender.

Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa got out to soft dismissals and the tail, as always, displayed neither the head nor the heart.

While there is little doubt that Tendulkar was dogged by a jinx of a series of bad decisions in this series, that, however, should in no way hide India’s other failures.

At the start of the series, Dravid had backed VVS Laxman to have a great test series and Yuvraj to take his batting to another level in the one-day series.

While Laxman at best made some decent contributions in the Tests, Yuvraj didn’t exactly set the world on fire in the one-dayers.

In contrast, Tendulkar shone in his final UK tour to prove that he is not a spent force yet and all talks about a possible retirement from the shorter version of the game is a bit premature.