The words ‘exciting' and ‘draw' are usually never whispered in the same breath while discussing cricket. A frenetic Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium largely changed that perception.
The third and final Test between India and the West Indies boiled down to a matter of three runs from the last six balls with the rivals staring equally at four possibilities: victory, defeat, tie and a draw.
Fidel Edwards steamed in to bowl and India, chasing 243 in its second innings, was placed at 240 for eight. Varun Aaron missed, blocked and heaved in hope before getting the fourth delivery away for a single.
Primary focus
R. Ashwin then firmly decided that his primary focus will be to protect his wicket in the fifth delivery as that would ensure that India cannot lose the match even if he was dismissed in the last ball while going for the required two since Pragyan Ojha was still in the change-room and the host would only be nine-down.
Ashwin (14) inner-edged the fifth ball in to his pads and the winner of the ‘Man-of-the-Match' and ‘Man-of-the-Series' awards had finally placed the contest in the home team's corner.
It would either be an Indian victory or a draw.
The last ball was promptly despatched to long-on and a single was on but never a second run as substitute Denesh Ramdin's throw stymied Ashwin's race and India finished its second innings at 242 for nine in 64 overs.
Both teams tallied an identical cumulative score of 724 each and it took some time for everyone to fathom that they had witnessed a draw of mythical proportions.
The build-up to that final moment put to shade, the events over the previous four days that witnessed 1,153 runs and 22 wickets.
Decisive phase
A frenzied final day yielded 295 runs and 17 wickets and the eventual draw helped India win the three-match series with a 2-0 verdict. The match's decisive phase was set up when the West Indies imploded in the morning. During those 95 minutes, the West Indies lost eightwickets from 23.2 overs while adding a meagre 53 runs to its overnight 81 for two. The West Indies mustered 134 in its second innings.
More than the pitch doing anything sensational other than granting a wee-bit of turn and bounce, there was nothing in the surface that forced the meltdown. The manner in which Marlon Samuels gave the charge to Ojha (six for 47) and Carlton Baugh launched in to an expansive drive against Ashwin (four for 34) were all pointers to the poor shot-selection that marred Darren Sammy's men.
Initial cruise
Set a target of 243 from 64 overs, inclusive of the 15 mandatory overs, India cruised initially on Virender Sehwag's charmed life. The opener was dropped on 6 and 27 by Ravi Rampaul and Sammy respectively and on 13, Sehwag squirted a thick edge that eluded a diving Devendra Bishoo at first slip. Gautam Gambhir meanwhile had fatally found Sammy at point.
Sehwag (60) and Rahul Dravid raised 82 runs for the second wicket before the opener tried a reverse-paddle shot off Bishoo and perished.
India was still in command but Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar failed to get past short mid-wicket and fell to Marlon Samuels, who bowled an unchanged spell of 25 overs.
Mature innings
Amidst the nerves of falling wickets, Virat Kohli (63) played a mature innings, milking the singles, finding the odd four and a six but the others failed to get going. V.V.S. Laxman and M.S. Dhoni could not shrug aside Rampaul's persistence and it was left to Kohli and Ashwin to step up again. The duo shared a 35-run seventh-wicket partnership.
Kohli however undid his hard work with an inopportune cut against Bishoo and Rampaul, bowling long spells to cover up for an injured Sammy, castled Ishant Sharma and set the match up for a gripping climax, that the 18,000-strong crowd will never forget.
Scoreboard
West Indies — 1st innings: 590.
India — 1st innings: 482.
West Indies — 2nd innings: A. Barath c Laxman b Ojha 3 (10b), K. Brathwaite c Tendulkar b Ojha 35 (115b, 2x4), K. Edwards st Dhoni b Ojha 17 (24b, 3x4), D. Bravo c & b Ojha 48 (105b, 5x4), K. Powell lbw b Ashwin 11 (29b), M. Samuels st Dhoni b Ojha 0 (4b), C. Baugh b Ashwin 1 (4b), D. Sammy c Dhoni b Ashwin 10 (22b), R. Rampaul c Tendulkar b Ojha 0 (14b), F. Edwards (not out) 2 (16b), D. Bishoo lbw b Ashwin 0 (1b); Extras (b-3, lb-4): 7. Total (in 57.2 overs): 134.
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Barath), 2-30 (Edwards), 3-91 (Brathwaite), 4-112 (Bravo), 5-112 (Samuels), 6-117 (Baugh), 7-120 (Powell), 8-129 (Rampaul), 9-134 (Sammy).
India bowling: Ojha 27-5-47-6, Ishant 8-2-15-0, Aaron 4-0-23-0, Ashwin 15.2-0-34-4, Sehwag 2-0-3-0, Tendulkar 1-0-5-0.
India — 2nd innings: G. Gambhir c Sammy b Edwards 12 (11b, 1x4), V. Sehwag c Sammy b Bishoo 60 (65b, 8x4), R. Dravid c (sub) Ramdin b Samuels 33 (49b, 1x4), S. Tendulkar c Edwards b Samuels 3 (7b), V.V.S. Laxman c Barath b Rampaul 31 (53b, 1x4), V. Kohli c Sammy b Bishoo 63 (114b, 3x4, 1x6), M.S. Dhoni c Edwards b Rampaul 13 (37b, 1x4), R. Ashwin (run out) 14 (27b), Ishant b Rampaul 10 (17b, 1x4), V. Aaron (not out) 2 (5b); Extras (nb-1): 1. Total (for nine wkts. in 64 overs): 242.
Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Gambhir), 2-101 (Sehwag), 3-106 (Tendulkar), 4-113 (Dravid), 5-165 (Laxman), 6-189 (Dhoni), 7-224 (Kohli), 8-239 (Ishant), 9-242 (Ashwin).
West Indies bowling: Edwards 7-0-28-1, Rampaul 16-1-56-3, Samuels 25-0-93-2, Bishoo 16-0-65-2.
