The march towards victory had an inevitable air and for a brief while
the attention was riveted on whether Sachin Tendulkar would reach his
100th international hundred.
India defeated the West Indies by five wickets in the first Test that
concluded with a day to spare here at the Ferozeshah Kotla Ground while
Tendulkar will have to wait for his historical century.
However, Tendulkar through his 76 (148b, 10x4), had done enough to
ensure that M.S. Dhoni's men had no need to chew nails while chasing the
victory target.
The fourth-innings man
And finally V.V.S. Laxman (58 n.o., 105b, 6x4), who revels with a monk's
equanimity in the fourth innings of a match, was at the crease when
India scored 276 for five to seal the match, 32 minutes after lunch on
the fourth day.
Wednesday dawned with hope resting on the shoulders of Tendulkar and
Rahul Dravid while India resumed at 152 for two and needing another 124
runs to secure a 1-0 lead.
The West Indies skipper Darren Sammy and Fidel Edwards shared the
initial morning spells and Tendulkar was positive right through.
Superb delivery
Sammy was clipped off the toes in the very first over but Edwards bowled a stunner to Dravid.
The ball swung away, pitched and then darted in sharply to clean up the
stumps while Dravid reached out to whip it through the on-side.
With India's sheet-anchor gone, Laxman walked in at 162 for three and
the wristy artist found a warm welcome as Edwards drifted towards his
pads. The dainty flick was essayed and soon Laxman and Tendulkar settled
into a steady rhythm as the runs came at 4.41 an over in their 71-run
fourth-wicket partnership.
Laxman kept threading fours as the West Indies seamers in a bid to pin
him to the crease, strayed down the leg-side. Laxman's fluidity and
Tendulkar's finesse set a breathless tandem and the usual nerves seen
while pursuing small targets, never surfaced.
Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo too never troubled the pair and when Ravi
Rampaul came on, Tendulkar glanced one fine and drove another past
cover. Suddenly the sub-text of the 100th international hundred began to
shimmer.
The sparse crowd spread across the venue, sensed the occasion and the murmurs and claps began.
Sadly some irate fans tracking the game on websites pushed hero-worship
to the limit and made snide remarks about the need for Laxman to slow
down as the maestro needed his runs!
Steady trot
Out on the pitch, the middle-order veterans went at a steady trot with an Indian triumph being the primary benchmark.
There were a few blips too as once Laxman set off for a single and
quickly turned back but a scrambling Tendulkar rapidly retraced his
steps.
The duo met up, explanations were swapped and much later there was a
sedentary moment as Tendulkar refused a leg-bye while Bishoo and Sammy,
who fielded the ball racing towards short fine-leg, seemed bemused.
Trapped in front
In retrospect the leg-bye could have been taken because in the same
over, Tendulkar tried to pull, missed the line and was trapped right in
front.
Laxman and Yuvraj Singh then anchored India to a lunch score of 254 for four and on resumption, kept the scoreboard ticking.
A real turnaround
The match's drama was not finished yet and when the scores were tied, Sammy crashed one through Yuvraj's stumps.
The southpaw squatted on the turf but the ball was not as low as Yuvraj
indicated. Dhoni immediately walked in and watched Laxman tap Kraigg
Brathwaite past square-leg for the winning run and truly it was a
turnaround for a team that had suffered a 95-run first innings deficit.
More than that, the triumph, coming as it did after the 0-4 loss in
Tests against England, was most welcome and the hope for glad tidings
lingered as debutant R. Ashwin won the ‘Man-of-the-Match' award.
It was perhaps a fine gift to the off-spinner ahead of his wedding on Sunday.
Keywords: West Indies tour of India, Sachin Tendulkar
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