Related Links : West Indies’ Tour of India 2011/12 : Scorecard of India Vs West Indies, 3rd Test at Mumbai
India fell short by just the one run from a 3-o series cleansweep in the third and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai! Though the match was expected to be a draw after four boring days of tall scores, the final day’s play provided a million twists and turns to keep all the four results including a tie possible until the last over! Hosts India were chasing a realistic target of 243 in 64 overs and the match went right till the wire with just three runs needed to win but with just the two wickets in hand.
The Final Over Story
R Ashwin who scored a century in the first innings was in the crease along with no.10 Varun Aaron, but the latter was at the strike at the start of the final over. Varun Aaron consumed as many as four balls to find a high risk single in the final over bowled by Fidel Edwards! R Ashwin was left to get two runs from as many balls. The fifth ball of the over, Ashwin tamely attempted to defend as he wanted to ensure that India did not lose the match as two wickets could have been lost in the remaining two balls. The final ball with two needed to win – Ashwin drilled a full delivery to straight long on and settled for just the single! He might have thought that with the scores being leveled, the match was a tie which wasn’t the case as India wasn’t getting bowled out even if he lost his wicket. Infact Varun Aaron wisely turned back for the second run in a flash, but Ashwin lost the plot as he took a long time to respond to that call, and in the end was run out at the striker’s end by a mile!
Though both the teams finished the match with same overall scores – 724 and 724, the match was a draw as West Indies couldn’t take all the 10 wickets. While India fell short of their victory by one run, West Indies fell short of a victory by one wicket!
The Morning Session
As Day 5 began, there was hardly any chance of anything dramatic to happen if one has to believe in the pitch report by Sunil Gavaskar, who announced that the pitch was dead and was all set for a funeral in the evening. West Indies began the proceedings of the final day at 81 for 2 in 34 overs with an overall lead that looked secured at 189 runs. Shockingly by lunch, it was all over in a flash with West Indies getting bundled out for a paltry 134 in 57.2 overs and India starting to chase a target of 243 in 64 overs knocking off 16 runs in 3 overs.
Pragyan Ojha was the star of the morning as he teased the West Indian batsmen with lots of light and slowness in the air and fooled them completely with his lovely loop and dip. Kraigg Brathwaite (35 from 115 balls) was the first to go, not able to control his cut shot as Ojha got his wide delivery to turn big and bounce very high to force a top edge to point. A few overs later, Darren Bravo (48 from 105 balls) was lured into an extravagant drive through extra covers against the turn and all he could do was drag his shot off a thick inside edge back to Ojha. In the same over, Marlon Samuels (0) lost his mind and committed hara-kiri just like Kirk Edwards by leaving his crease in style for a lofted shot straight down the ground, but only to get beaten by the turn and bounce to get stumped by a mile off Ojha. By now, West Indies slipped to 112 for 5 with all the five wickets going to Pragyan Ojha!
In the 48th over, R Ashwin joined the party by removing Carlton Baugh (bowled through the gate in a big cover drive against the turn of a classical off break) and Kieran Powell (lbw after not reading a drifter). Ojha added a sixth scalp when Ravi Rampaul dragged a slog sweep to Tendulkar at deep squareleg. The West Indian Captain Darren Sammy couldn’t manage any big hits and was swallowed by Ashwin while edging a cut to MS Dhoni to what looked like a quicker carrom ball. The very next ball, Ashwin wrapped up the innings with an arm ball that forced Bishoo on the backfoot and hit his pad plumb infront of middle.
Pragyan Ojha got rich figures of 27-5-47-6 and R Ashwin with 15.2-0-34-4 had taken a total of 9 wickets in the match.
The Afternoon Session
India had a setback in their run chase soon after lunch as a busy looking Gautam Gambhir (12) flashed his square drive off Fidel Edwards straight into the hands of backward point. Things looked bright for India as Virender Sehwag showed a mix of caution and aggression to provide the starting momentum for the run chase. The right-hander smoothly got 60 from just 65 balls with 8 fours before getting caught at short fine leg off a leading edge while trying to attempt two shots – a reverse paddle and a normal paddle sweep off a leg stumpish full toss from Bishoo. Sehwag provided a perfect launching pad at 101 for 2 in the 20th over.
The match changed its complexion though after his exit as Tendulkar (3) and Dravid (33 from 49 balls with a four) fell in similar fashion, trying to flick the ball with the turn off Samuels, but with the ball stopping onto the pitch were forced to lob up catches to mid wicket. The next pair of VVS Laxman and Virat Kohli also had problems working the ball on the frontfoot as the pitch started to get tired and was too sluggish. The pair took India safely to Tea without any further damage at 148 for 4 in 34 overs. The target in the final session was 95 runs from 30 overs with India the hot favourites to win. West Indies had a couple of problems atleast with Darren Sammy not bowling because of a hamstring strain, and Devendra Bishoo struggling with a leg strain and vision problems too!
The Final Session
Ravi Rampaul forced India on the backfoot after Tea as he got a well set VVS Laxman (31) miscuing a pull from outside off to get caught at mid on. When Skipper MS Dhoni walked in, India needed 77 more runs from 24.3 overs. He took the match till the final hour with India needing just 55 runs from the mandatory 15 overs. However, after the final drinks break, MS Dhoni (13) looking to play aggressively drove Rampaul uppishly to covers to lose his wicket. Now India was in the danger of losing the match at 189 for 6.
It looked obvious that India would try to save the game after losing Dhoni, but Virat Kohli with R Ashwin did the opposite by going for the kill. Kohli batted sensibly by putting off the bad balls for runs and in sometime, India were soon back in the hunt to win the match. However, the match had another twist when Virat Kohli (63 from 114 balls with 3 fours and a six) reached out to a widish leg break from Bishoo, but only to top edge his cut to backward point with India 19 runs away from a win with 4.5 overs left.
Just a ball after Kohli’s exit, Ishant Sharma drove the very first ball he faced for a boundary through extra covers to bring India back in the game. In the penultimate over, Ishant Sharma (10 from 17 balls) after playing out a couple of dot balls lost his leg stump thanks to a skidding indipper from Ravi Rampaul. The match went till the last ball with India falling one run short of the 243-run mark. Ashwin contributed 14 from 27 balls before getting run out in the final ball. The 3-Test old Ashwin got both the Man of the Match and also the Man of the Series awards.
Statistics reveal that this was only the second draw in the history of Test cricket with both the teams finishing with the same total. The first match to witness a similar fate was the Zimbabwe-England Test at Bulawayo in 1996.