India vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Test at Mumbai,, Dec 02 2009 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Tendulkar calls the players and support staff from the dressing room to come on to the ground. And there they come, led by Gary Kirsten who hugs Dhoni., Tendulkar, Zaheer and in fact everybody. Now the Indian team get into a celebratory huddle. Smiles all around. And the players scream,' Hip hip hurray'.

Tendulkar: "Fantastic to be at this position. I have been waiting a long time to get to this position (No 1). In fact just not me, entire nation. I thought when Gary (Kirsten) and Paddy (Paddy Upton), along with Robin Singh and Venkatesh Prasad, all credit to them for handling the team brilliantly. Also all the players have worked very hard in the last 18 months. Right from no 1 batter to no 7 (MS bats at no 7) we have a solid batting line-up. This pitch was a brilliant wicket. There was some turn on the first day and I knew one roll would settle it down and it did." A smiling Tendulkar then adds, " I have told Yuvraj Singh not to call me Grandpa .. I have lots of names for him too and I can expose him there! No retirement as long as I am enjoying the game."

Very interesting that SRT mentioned the names of Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh in that list. He doesn't usually say anything controversial and neither does he throw his weight around but in his own quiet dignified unassuming way, he has told the world what he thinks. Venkatesh Prasad, who was unceremoniously sacked by the BCCI, would be thrilled with this vote of confidence.

Hang for quotes from the post-match ceremony.

Sangakkara: It was tough but India outperformed us in all three departments of the game in the last two Tests. In this game, we nearly put 400 but Sehwag came and took the game away from us. The guys fought hard through this series but it was not enough. The batting of Dilshan, Prasana, Samaraweera, how Welegedera came through in the first Test .. were the positives. Congrats to the Indian team who did well as a unit; someone always stepped up to perform.

Man of the Match and Man of the Series is Sehwag: This will be the third best of my knocks. I wasn't thinking anything, my mind was very blank; I waited for a while . I just waited for the bad balls. The dressing room they were saying I was hitting the good balls too but when you look at from my point of view, I was just hitting the bad balls..! After the first Test, I had a very good chat with Kirsten. He told me just carry on the process that you applied in Sri Lanka and in NEw Zealand, you will come good for a long knock. This (no 1) is a team effort.

MS Dhoni: I think the real tough task from now on is to maintain this performance. THe real tough job starts from here. When we are pushed to the wall, we come out with some special performances. Overall I think it was a terrific team performance in this series. Every batsman, who got in, in this match did his job. Especially Virender Sehwag. We had a big total and could put pressure with close-in fielders. Zaheer is back in the rhythm and it was good to see the fast bowlers do well in India. There was a bit of reverse swing but not much help to them but they have bowled very well. Our fielding was good. I think we caught nearly everything that came our way."

Dhoni lifts the Trophy. And he calls his team-mates to come and join him and pose for pictures.

That's it from us. This is Sriram Veera, your commentator for this game, signing out. Alvida.

The Mumbai crowd chant: "Ganpati bappa mourya!" . It's salutations to the god Ganesha.