Sachin Tendulkar dedicated his century to the families of those killed in the Mumbai terror attacks following India's six-wicket win over England in Chennai.
"This hundred will give a certain amount of happiness to people but what happened in Mumbai, it's very hard to recover from that," he said.
"Cricket is a lesser thing compared to what has happened.
"Whatever we can contribute, we've been able to do that. We're right with the people who have lost their dear ones."
The two-match series against England was in serious doubt following the attacks in Mumbai, Tendulkar's home city, on 29 November, in which more than 170 people were killed.
The England squad flew home, but agreed to return last weekend after being promised unprecedented levels of security by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
They were in the driving seat for much of the game in Chennai but Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 103 on the final day as he and Yuvraj Singh guided India to their target of 387.
Tendulkar described it as a "special victory".
He continued: "The gameplan was to wait for opportunities to score runs because you can't afford to get bogged down.
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"It was the kind of wicket where the bounce meant you could always play shots, we looked to put the bad balls away."
Despite his magnificent innings, the Man of the Match award went to team-mate Virender Sehwag, who wrested the initiative from England on the fourth evening with a sparkling innings of 83 off 68 balls.
"We weren't brilliant on the field for the first three days, so it was important to play the last two days with a lot of intensity," said captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
"Sehwag was the playmaker. Without his innings we would have been defending this Test match, but Sachin and Yuvraj really performed when it was really needed for the side."
Sehwag struck four sixes and 11 fours and he said: "I always back myself. If the ball pitches in my area, I'll go after it - it doesn't matter whether it's turning or not."
The second Test begins in Mohali on Friday with India looking to complete back-to-back series victories after defeating Australia 2-0 in a four-match series last month.
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