Vadodara: Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar didn’t do any homework before putting the Big Three — Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid — on notice the other day. On Wednesday afternoon, a lady from the media didn’t get her facts right either.

“What do you have to say about more lows than highs in the past year?” she asked Sachin Tendulkar during his brief interaction with the media. Bewildered, the senior-most pro replied with a touch of irritation: “You should see the scores... It seems you’ve been following some other game.”

Point made.

Indeed, if Sachin’s ODI performances in 2007 are to be focused on, then he averaged 63.67 against the West Indies, 27.50 versus Sri Lanka, 32.00 in the World Cup, 51.00 in Ireland (against Ireland and South Africa), 53.43 versus England in England and is averaging 34.50 in the ongoing series against Australia.

The following are excerpts from Sachin’s interaction — incidentally, some of the questions were dealt with by him during his exclusive chat with The Telegraph on Tuesday evening:

On being less than a day away from his 400th ODI appearance

Accha mehsoos ho raha hai... Mera approach normal rahega...

On the special moments in his one-day career

(Smiles) Quite a few, but the really special ones are three — when I bowled the last over in the 1993 Hero Cup semi-finals versus South Africa, the way I batted in the (April) 1998 tournament in Sharjah and the 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup.

On the landmark coming versus world champions Australia

It’s a coincidence... It has worked out that way, but the 400th match could have been against any opposition. No special feelings or emotions.

On whether he will continue till he reaches the 500 mark

I take it one match at a time... Today, I’m just looking forward to tomorrow... That’s the way it has always been with me.

On having scored three of his 41 hundreds at the venue (Reliance Stadium, formerly the IPCL Stadium)

That I’ve done well makes me happy... Like all batsmen, I aim to do well and to help the team do well... Getting hundreds isn’t as important as ensuring that the team wins... It’s not that I’m playing for hundreds, I’m playing with the aim of helping the team win...

Finally, on the ongoing series

It has been competitive and, yes, I expect more good cricket.

Footnote: “Sachin has reached so many milestones that this one is actually going to be a small dot in his illustrious career,” is what teammate Murali Kartik had to say.