West Indies implode to a defeat by innings and 51 runs on third day after debutant Shami rocks with five-for and ashwin scores ton.
There was a time when we used to use adjectives like fearsome and frightful, invincible and unmatchable to describe the West Indies cricket team. It’s time we replaced these with inept and bumbling, helpless and hopeless. Even the great Sobers would agree. So would Lloyd and Richards, Roberts and Holding, Lara and Ambrose. To say the current team is a shadow of its imperious predecessors would be massively insulting to the shadow. It’s not a fall from grace. It’s a plummet.
In a shambolic display of batting, the visitors crumbled from 101/1 to 168 all out, condemning themselves to an innings defeat at the Eden Gardens on Friday. Sachin Tendulkar’s 199th Test was a grand success alright, but the quality of cricket played by the West Indians showed them in extremely poor light. However hard you try, you can’t condone the spectacular fashion in which Darren Sammy & Co. Imploded on the third afternoon.
And the man who hastened the end was the debutant, Mohammed Shami. The Bengal pacer followed up his four-wicket haul in the first innings, finished with figures of 13.1-0-47-5 in the second essay which started after lunch and ended with the West Indians bowled out for 168 in just 54 overs.
Six of his nine scalps in the match were bowled, each of them with the old ball. For the record, India triumphed by an innings and 51 runs to go 1-0 up in the two-match series. India have now won five Tests in a row — all at home.
There was no way India were going to lose after overnight batsmen Rohit Sharma (177), R Ashwin (124), and their record 280-run stand for the seventh wicket powered India to 453, well ahead of the visitors’ 234. But when India lost their last four wickets for just 17 runs, one felt the West Indians were up for it.
To be fair, they were for about 30 overs. Chris Gayle scored the first 33 runs before gifting his wicket to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, courtesy a mistimed pull. Kieran Powell (36) and Darren Bravo (37) then held fort for 20 overs.
Bowling from round the wicket, Ashwin flighted one to trap Powell leg-before. The very next over, Shami got into the act by claiming Marlon Samuels for a duck. The right-hander was unlucky to be given out leg-before, as was Sharma who looked to get a double hundred and more.
The West Indians took tea at 112/3 in 33 overs. And they then lost seven wickets for 56 runs in 21.1 overs. Shami, who was hit for a few boundaries by Gayle, was a different bowler in the third session. Ashwin struck to remove Bravo before Shami had Denesh Ramdin caught at forward short-leg. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Sammy hung in for a while.
But the 49th over only expedited the inevitable. First ball: no run. Second ball: Sammy’s middle stump goes for a walk. Reverse swing! Third ball: Shane Shillingford (the lion-hearted off-spinner finished with 6/167) fails to connect. Fourth ball: More reverse swing, more timber. This time, it’s the off stick. Fifth ball: India appeal for a leg-before but the umpire turns it down. MS Dhoni shows a presence of mind to run Veerasammy Permaul out with an underarm throw. Sixth ball: Tino Best fends it off.
By now, Mamata Banerjee had left the state’s administrative headquarters to be at the Eden. Three overs later, Ashwin had Best caught in the deep. Shami then finished it off with another peach.
Their misery was over. Over to Mumbai (November 14-18) now for more of the same.
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