London, Dec. 16 : When batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar played the paddle shot to fine-leg to register India's victory against England and his 41st Test century in the first Test in Chennai on Monday, that victory stroke made hair on the neck stand up, claims former England fast bowler Angus Fraser.

In article for The Independent, Fraser says that it is not every day that you hear a cricket team chase down the highest total on home soil, and for Tendulkar to be there at the end and ensure that it happened for India, was not only miraculous, but heartwarming for a connoisseur of the game.

"The Indian cricket team gave more than a billion people the perfect antidote to last month''s terrorist attacks in Mumbai," producing one of the most remarkable run chases in the history of Test cricket, says Fraser.

"When the country''s favourite son, Sachin Tendulkar, swept England''s Graeme Swann to fine leg for four, and it sent a large and excitable crowd into a state of rapture. The stroke not only provided India with the uplifting national triumph it desperately needed, it allowed Tendulkar, a born and bred Mumbaikar, to pass 100 for the 41st time in his stellar career," he adds.

"It was one of those special moments that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, similar to when an under-fire Steve Waugh hit the last ball of the day''s play for four to complete a hundred against England in Sydney six years ago," Fraser says.

According to Fraser, a sombre Pietersen also acknowledged Tendulkar's greatness when he said: "Who writes Sachin Tendulkar''s scripts? It could not have gone any better for him. The man from Mumbai came in and scored a sensational hundred. He batted like a superstar. We tried everything we could and, unfortunately, we came unstuck."

"I think Sehwag definitely started things off [on Sunday] but Sachin played a super, super knock. If we had got him early, who knows what would have happened? We have seen that if you get a wicket in this Test a couple tend to fall. We wanted to attack Yuvraj Singh and get under his skin, but he played pretty well too," Pietersen added.

As far Fraser is concerned, with India still requiring 163 for victory, the match was still in the balance, "but it was then that Tendulkar''s experience came to the fore." (ANI)