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Sachin Tendulkar made one of the most publicized and anticipated comebacks of any sports athlete ever. And he was gone for just 6 months.

More than the fact that he did well in his comeback, it was the way in which he came back that was illuminating. Gone was the tentative, innings-building, bowler-sensitive, Sachin that we saw post-World Cup '03. In his stead was a version reminiscent of his glory days - attacking, cheeky, aggressive, and above-all, looking to dominate the bowling irrespective of reputation, as Muralitharan found out.

Of course, this was one match, one success. Some days those aggressive chips over the infield may not be timed as well and the fielding side will be back in the business. When that happens it will be interesting to see whether Sachin will revert to his recent avatar or will he continue to tap into the Sachin of old. I hope it is the latter.

In the past couple of years, perhaps because the elbow was hurting much more than he let on, Sachin had regressed into the role of an accumulator. So much so, that the man who had made his mark playing Australia, at home and abroad, was no longer feared as much as Brian Lara by the Australian bowlers. In a year or so he will have a chance to rectify that opinion of theirs.

In the meantime, the frenzy over the return of the self-proclaimed "child of the one-day age" is at its peak. Many articles have been written about the return of the king. The one I liked best, maybe not surprisingly, was Harsha Bhogle's take on the man.