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Wednesday, 9 November 2011 00:29 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
NEW DELHI (Reuters): India’s Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman to pass 15,000 test runs and was eyeing another milestone as the hosts moved to within 124 runs of victory against West Indies in the first test on Tuesday.
Tendulkar took off his helmet, raised his bat and looked to the heavens after reaching the milestone. He was unbeaten on 33 at stumps on day three of the bowler-dominated test at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.
Rahul Dravid was also unbeaten on 30 as India reached 152 for two in chasing 276 for victory.
Tendulkar will return to the crease on Wednesday hoping to reach a much-awaited 100th century in international cricket.
The home side owe their upper hand in the match to debutant off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (6-47), who helped dismantle West Indies for 180 in their second innings.
“I didn’t expect so many wickets but before the test match I was hoping to get a five-wicket haul and probably some more runs as well,” Ashwin, who finished with a nine-wicket match haul, said.
Resuming on 21 for two, West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals as India made the most of foggy morning conditions.
Ishant Sharma removed Fidel Edwards for one and nearly dismissed Darren Bravo (12) in the same over but Ashwin dropped the catch at extra cover.
Fellow quick Umesh Yadav claimed his maiden test wicket when he uprooted Kirk Edwards’ (33) off-stump after the batsman offered no shot.
Ashwin more than made up for his fielding lapse with a double-wicket maiden over, trapping Bravo leg before and then pegging back scoreless Marlon Samuels’ off-stump to reduce West Indies to 63 for six wickets.
Yadav removed Carlton Baugh (seven) for his second wicket of the match before Shivnarine Chanderpaul (47) put his foot down to frustrate the Indians in the company of the tailenders. In comparison, India’s free-scoring openers Virender Sehwag (55) and Gautam Gambhir (22) took them past the 50-mark before Marlon Samuels broke the stand.
Gambhir was beaten by Samuels’ flighted delivery that hit his pad and was given out leg before.
Sehwag hit Samuels and Devendra Bishoo for six to race to his second half-century of the match but got carried away and dragged a Darren Sammy delivery onto his stumps to depart after a run-a-ball knock.
Tendulkar walked out to join Dravid in the middle and the senior batsmen, with more than 56,700 international runs between them, adopted a patient approach to see through the rest of the day. West Indies coach Ottis Gibson still sounded optimistic.
“276 is a good score... A lot of things have happened in the morning session and hopefully we can get a few wickets and put them under pressure,” he said.
