West Indies 590
India 281/3 (80.0 ov)
India trail by 309 runs with 7 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Stumps - Day 3
Darren Sammy removed Virender Sehwag for the third time in the series
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| Darren Sammy |
For the third day in a row, batsmen had an easy time at the Wankhede Stadium. Rahul Dravid became the second player to reach 13,000 Test runs as he guided India's solid response with a half-century after West Indies were finally bowled out for 590 early on the third morning. Gautam Gambhir also made a fifty, but it is now nearly two years since his last Test ton.
West Indies didn't declare overnight, allowing their final pair to bat on, and after 15 minutes of entertaining tail-ender swings, Devendra Bishoo was bowled by offspinner R Ashwin, who completed his second five-wicket haul in his debut series.
It was a typically quick start from India's openers: Virender Sehwag routinely scything the ball through cover, and Gambhir poking the ball either side of point for runs. Gambhir was a touch loose to start with - chasing and missing several wide deliveries and surviving an early lbw appeal off Edwards - before getting more fluent.
Edwards and Ravi Rampaul bowled with aggression but there wasn't any extra bounce or sideways movement to encourage them. West Indies resorted to a defensive field half an hour into the innings - seven fielders on the off side, with two of them in the deep in front of point. It was the least pacy of the West Indian quicks, Darren Sammy, who snapped the opening stand at 67. He got one to slide past Sehwag's inside-edge and hit the stumps, signalling with three fingers that it was the third time he had dismissed Sehwag in the series.
The tempo was predictably slower after Sehwag's exit, and West Indies could have added to the advantage after lunch. Dravid seemed to have hurt his back after slipping when Gambhir turned down a single, and then he defended a delivery that nearly rolled back on to the stumps. Gambhir also had a reprieve when he guided Sammy towards first slip, where Kirk Edwards made a lazy attempt at a catch, barely getting a finger on the ball.
After those close calls, Gambhir and Dravid were more solid against the West Indian quicks. Dravid reached 13,000 runs by classically driving a half-volley for four, while Gambhir's increasing confidence was on display as he launched one over midwicket to reach his half-century. With Bishoo off the field for half the post-lunch session, getting his injured knee attended, Dravid feasted on Marlon Samuels' gentle offbreaks, crashing him through covers for successive fours.
Both batsmen were set, and the track was still a shirtfront, but West Indies managed to wheedle out a wicket, when Rampaul banged in a bouncer that Gambhir threw his bat at. The ball flew through to the keeper, and though the Snickometer showed nothing, the umpire was convinced there was an edge.
The crowd wasn't too disappointed since it brought in Sachin Tendulkar, continuing his quest for the century that would take him to the most talked-about cricketing milestone of the year. Tendulkar used his feet well against the spinners right from the start, and quickly progressed to 20.
Dravid, meanwhile, worked his way to 1000 runs for the year, and his half-century soon after. He showed his presence of mind on the final delivery before tea: after he defended the ball, it spun alarmingly back towards the stumps, but he reacted just in time, booting the ball away when the it was inches away from the wickets.
The two highest run-getters in Test cricket, though, still have plenty of work to do, as India remain more than 400 runs short of West Indies' total.
