As a clip to deep midwicket brought him another two runs and he moved onto 193, Sachin Tendulkar stood in the middle and looked to the stands like a glazed, battle-weary gladiator desperately seeking strength for the final kill.

The people to which he was looking had come from all around Madhya Pradesh, travelling many miles for a rare taste of live cricket and now that they were witnessing something special they were going to make the most of the moment. Every man, woman and child had risen to their feet for every one of those 193 runs, making such a roar that at times it sounded like shots which had brought a mere single had actually been crashed for four.

It wasn't just the people in the stands either. Up in the cramped, open-air press box limbs were flailing as the local press turned cheerleaders.

After three and a half frenetic hours at the crease, the effects were taking their toll on Tendulkar. Ever since 5 January 1971 when the Melbourne Cricket Ground hosted the very first one-day international it had always been assumed that a double-century was impossible because there simply wasn't enough time for a batsman to achieve it.

The advent of twenty20 and an increase in batsmen-friendly pitches has made the impossible possible, but as Tendulkar surveyed the scenes around him with empty eyes it showed that in modern cricket the greatest obstacle to the double was fatigue.

When the more than 25,000 souls present finally willed Tendulkar over the line in the final over of India's innings everyone was already on their feet, but the cauldron erupted to send tingles down the spine and pump blood through the veins such that the three pale-faced South African journalists among us flushed bright red.

Gwalior is no picnic town and the last two days have been raw, but here we were with history being made and the feeling of privilege rushed through us.

Tendulkar had hardly played a shot in anger until he reached his century off 89 balls, which was pure Tendulkar class, but as the innings wore on from there he increasingly lashed out. One particular heave stands out in the mind - a highly unTendulkar-like hoik over cow corner from outside off stump off the bowling of Dale Steyn.

Everything seemed to come screaming out the middle of the bat, and on such a good pitch with short boundaries the effects were devastating.

But it's for that exact reason that I would argue this isn't the greatest one-day innings of all time. Before the match the curator labelled this pitch a "bowler's graveyard" where even 400 would not be safe. Of course as I write 400 looks very safe but he was still correct about the pitch not posing a challenge for the batsmen.

Sure, one-day cricket is about runs but when bowlers are reduced to punching bags then those runs lose much of their meaning. This was more a test of Tendulkar's will than his talent or his nerve.

More difficult innings have also been played in one-day cricket in circumstances where there is huge pressure, something completely lacking from a match that South Africa were openly willing to lose for a greater good.

That said he deserves every plaudit that comes his way - and in cricket-crazy India there will be no shortage - and those of us present will always be honoured that we can say: "I was there".