Sachin Tendulkar passed 15,000 Test runs as India closed in on a comfortable victory over the West Indies in the first Test at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium yesterday.
The world’s leading runscorer in Tests and one-day internationals became the first to touch the new mark with a single off leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo to move to 28 on his way to 33 not out at stumps on the third day.
Tendulkar raised his bat and looked toward the sky on reaching the landmark and he was congratulated by batting partner Rahul Dravid and the West Indies players.
Photo: Reuters
The day’s play finished soon after, with Dravid on 30 not out, and India on 152-2 in their second innings, chasing 276 for the win with two days left.
India were in a position to grab the win thanks mainly to off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who took 6-47 to help bowl out the West Indies for 180 in their second innings.
Ashwin became the second most successful India bowler on debut with match figures of 9-128. Only leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani produced better figures, with 16-136 against the West Indies in Chennai in 1988.
Ashwin’s impressive haul justified the faith of the selectors, who picked him ahead of star player Harbhajan Singh.
The Tamil Nadu spinner held center stage as the West Indies, enjoying a 95-run first-innings lead, were bowled out 72 minutes after lunch with only first-innings centurion Shivnarine Chanderpaul (47) and captain Darren Sammy (42) providing any resistance.
Ashwin took the wickets of Darren Bravo and Marlon Sam-uels in the same over in the first session.
He trapped left-hander Bravo (12) leg before wicket and foxed Samuels four deliveries later with one that moved away slightly to take the off-stump before the batsman had scored a run.
Ashwin, who accounted for opener Kieran Powell on the second day, also dismissed Chanderpaul, who made a 58-ball 47 before he was leg before wicket.
He earned a five-for when Sammy was bowled off a delivery that kept very low. Sammy struck five fours and a straight six off pace bowler Ishant Sharma in his aggressive 37-ball cameo.
Debutant pace bowler Umesh Yadav took two wickets, while Sharma and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha chipped in with one each.
Sharma got the first breakthrough of the day when he induced an edge from nightwatchman Fidel Edwards (1).
Yadav then took a fine first Test wicket with a ball that came in sharply to clean bowl a well-set Kirk Edwards (33). Yadav later got Carlton Baugh (7) to edge one to wicketkeeper and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Set 276 to win, India openers Virender Sehwag (55) and Gautam Gambhir (22) made a brisk start, before both were out while looking comfortable.
Left-hander Gambhir fell leg before to part-time off-spinner Marlon Samuels, while Sehwag inside-edged a delivery from pace bowler Sammy after smashing five fours and two sixes in his run-a-ball innings.
Sehwag, who had also scored 55 in the first innings, survived a chance on 12 when seamer Ravi Rampaul dropped him off his own bowling. He punished Samuels and Bishoo, and he was also quick to take singles.
With the openers gone at 95-2, Tendulkar and Dravid came together and led India to the close.
Tendulkar struck two fours during his 87-ball knock and with 124 more runs needed by the team, he is unlikely to achieve his 100th international century this week.
The three-Test series continues in Kolkata and Mumbai.
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