Tendulkar Farewell Test Series: Rohit Debut Ton Rescues And Puts India Ahead!!

R Ashwin and Rohit Sharma Unbeaten at Stumps Day 2

The fans in Kolkata just about managed to have everything they wanted of their idol. They saw him jumping and running around the field, enjoyed him bowling and reveled as he took a wicket too on the first day of the first cricket Test between India and West Indies. On the second day today they wanted to see him bat early and therefore even cheered the fall of the first two wickets. Sachin Tendulkar came in to bat within the first hour of today’s play and he seemed to be in a good nick hitting two beautiful boundaries. But this wish of the fans to see him have a long innings was cut short by 'Llong'--umpire Nigel Llong to be exact--who ruled him out leg before even as the ball that hit his back thigh seemed to be going above the off stump. Problem is off spinner Shillingford—the wicket Tendulkar captured yesterday—actually beat the retiring legend and the best batsman of the world has in fact been beaten around his leg consistently over the last one year. Apart from the focus of the Series cricket in the first two sessions was abysmally poor with the Indian top order caving in meekly basically to the spin of Shillingford who took four huge wickets.

Reverse swing and some amount of turn were visible on the pitch right from the morning today with the ball keeping low most often run making was difficult. Combining his skills of having an unpredictable bounce and a perfectly disguised doosra Shillingford troubled all the batsmen reducing India to 83 for 5. It could have been worse if a catch of Dhoni was taken at that stage. Debutante Rohit Sharma then took full charge and with his captain laid the anchors for a much needed partnership. At lunch the score was 120/5. However soon after lunch Dhoni fell to Best for 42 at India 156/6 and it was still an uphill task with not even a half century till then by anyone. Fresh from his double ton in the final ODI against Australia and inspired by the Test cap achieved after nearly three-year-long wait Rohit got to the first fifty of the innings and with able company provided by R Ashwin rescued India to 229/6 at tea. The second session was the better as nearly hundred runs were added with the loss of just Dhoni.

Rohit-Ashwin partnership went from strength to strength crossing hundred runs in the last session making it the best session of the day and a lead over West Indies was slowly and steadily growing. Rohit made a magnificent debut of an unbeaten 127 with 16 fours and 1 six while Ashwin who made his only Test century against West Indies played elegantly and fluently to remain unbeaten on 92 with 10 fours at stumps on Day 2. The duo rescued and made India strong with an unbeaten 198-run partnership for the seventh wicket. After having India in a tight corner WI captain Darren Sammy seemed to have lost the plot completely. He did not even utilize the known slow bowlers like Gayle and Marlon Samuels, under bowled Permaul and almost over bowled himself. What is significant for the future course of the Test India already amassed a lead of 120 runs and at 354/6 look to add more tomorrow. Considering the behavior of the pitch this lead could well be decisive.  The Scorecard:

Tendulkar Farewell Test Series: Shami Debut Destroys West Indies!

Mohammed Shami

West Indies got dismissed cheaply for 234 runs just after tea on the first day of the first cricket Test between India and West Indies at the majestic Eden Gardens, Kolkata today. This was brought about largely by a tremendous burst of swing bowling by Mohammed Shami who made his Test debut too being preferred over Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav due to his good performance in the recently concluded 7-match India-Australia one day international Series. Shami took four wickets for 71 runs and was also instrumental in a run-out. The second debutant for the first Test was Rohit Sharma who was finally given the Test cap thanks mainly to his Series winning innings of 209 runs in the final ODI against Australia in Bangalore. Test specialists Murli Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, spinner Pragyan Ojha, and of course Sachin Tendulkar featured in Team India.

West Indies (WI) won the toss and elected to bat first on the slow pitch at Eden Gardens. The pitch hardly helped the bowlers—be it pacers or spinners—but WI openers could not take advantage as the danger man Chris Gayle (18) got out early to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar while Kieran Powell (28) gave Shami his debut break. However, the uneven bounce in the pitch held something in store for the bowlers and it happened sooner than expected. After forty overs the umpires changed the ball and immediately the pacer duo got some reverse swing. Even then, it was not the bowling but the suicidal mindset of the WI batsmen that contributed largely to the debacle. A big partnership was in the making between Samuels (65) and DM Bravo (23) when the Shami burst had the former bowled. Bravo complicated matters by getting run out in a horrible mix-up. West Indies were reduced to 143/5 when Ramdin’s stumps were uprooted by Shami getting his third scalp. For a team used to unaccountable collapses there was no fight back and the full team got out for 234. Chanderpaul (36), the consistent tormentor for India, did linger on and was the ninth down at 233.  

The Scorecard:

Sachin Tendulkar, the legend for whom this cricket Series has been organized, was prominently visible throughout on the field giving encouragement to bowlers and running around fielding with zest. To the delight of the crowd he took his 46^thTest wicket too trapping Shillingford leg before. With this wicket Sachin increased his international tally of wickets to 201 (154 in ODIs and 1 in T20I). At stumps on the first day India reached 37 for no loss in 12 overs with Shikhar Dhawan on 21 not out and Murli Vijay on 16 not out. Fans eagerly wait now for tomorrow when their idol comes out to bat.

Indian Mars Mission Launched, Tendulkar Farewell Mission Begins Tomorrow!

India's maiden mission to Mars was successfully launched today with its polar rocket placing the Mars spacecraft precisely into an intended Earth orbit in its first-ever historic inter-planetary odyssey.The ‘Mangalyaan’ or Mars Orbiter was launched on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at Sriharikota, on the Andhra Pradesh coast, at 14.38 Indian time. The mission is a bid to reach the Red Planet in September 2014 and test the Martian atmosphere for hydrogen and methane gases. As the launch vehicle soared space-ward scientists from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) could be heard shouting "Buriah!" – Brilliant! All prominent leaders and personalities have been showering praise and congratulations on these worthy Indian scientists. The mission will cost $73 million (£45 million), compared with the United States’ ‘Curiosity’ mission to Mars, which launched in 2011 at a cost of $2.5 billion (£1.56 billion). With this relatively low cost mission India becomes only the fourth nation of the world to achieve this milestone.

And then, Sachin Tendulkar Farewell Series begins tomorrow at the spectacular Eden Gardens. His 199^thand the first Test between India and West Indies starts tomorrow with much more interest focused on the master-blaster rather than on competitive cricket. Sachin fever has been raging in Kolkata since the cricket legend arrived there on Sunday. Adoring fans have been following him everywhere from the airport to the net practice at the Eden Gardens. A string of events have been organized throughout the last three days including a statue of Sachin Tendulkar. Various innovative plans are afoot during the Test match. Meantime at the Mumbai end where Sachin’s 200^th Test is scheduled organizers are saying that what is being planned will be far more spectacular than what is going to unfold in Kolkata. Well, the legend rightfully deserves the attention although you may feel tempted to call it hype. Meantime it’s better to stay tuned and catch the action the second last time as far as the best batsman of the world is concerned.