[Bounce]

West Indies in India, 2011


First Test Match at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Sachin and Sehwag stabilized the Indian inning

The Indians came out to chase a total of 334 with 110 overs of play remaining in the test match. Surprisingly, Virender Sehwag did not come out to open along with Gautam Gambhir. The Indian skipper, MS Dhoni decided to send Virat Kohli to open, with a plan of not losing any wicket in the 4th day of play, with just about 20 official overs remaining. Indian certainly didn't wish to lose Sehwag early, and it would have been quite easy to get him out for the Windies, considering what his batting style is.

The unusual batting pair of Kohli and Gambhir came out to open this inning, chasing 334 runs. It was a slow start for the Indians, with Gambhir getting off the mark on his 11th delivery and Kohli on his 23rd delivery. Sadly for India, West Indies managed to produce the wicket, and it was Virat Kohli who was dismissed. India lost their first wicket for 23 with just around 5-6 overs remaining.

The Indian skipper went for the unusual way yet again, sending out a night watchman in the form of Pragyan Ojha. Luckily, Gambhir and Ojha managed to protect their wickets, as India was on 38 for the loss of 1 wicket after the fourth day's play.

Unfortunately, Dhoni's gamble failed yet again as Pragyan Ojha got dismissed on the same day. A frustrated Dhoni finally decided to send a batsman out, but it was the wall, Rahul Dravid. Dravid and Gambhir managed to survive the little amount of overs remaining in the fourth day's play.

Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir, the two most reliable players of the Indian XI came out to resume the day for Team India. Following the footsteps of Dhoni, Chris Gayle tried to experiment too. He gave the bowl to the part-timer, Omar Phillips. The gamble worked for Gayle as Gambhir had to take the long walk back to the pavilion, giving a simple catch to the keeper Denesh Ramdin off Phillips. Indian now was in a bit of hassle with the scorecard reading 48 for the loss of 3 wickets.

Virender Sehwag came out to join Rahul Dravid. The experienced duo provided some stability to the Indian inning, and gave the much required hope to chase the total. Sehwag continued his good form of the previous inning, whereas Dravid, looked comfortable, after being dismissed on a duck the last time. These two managed to add 86 runs to the board, before Rahul Dravid was dismissed by Nikita Miller.

The little master, Sachin Tendulkar came out to the pitch as the Mumbai crowd gave a loud cheer to him. The partnership of Sachin-Sehwag, like always, troubled the opposition. Sehwag was batting aggressively, while Tendulkar was playing perfect cricketing shots. The duo thrashed the Windies to all corners of the park. These two were involved in a huge partnership of 140 odd runs. Sehwag completed his century yet again, whereas the Master looked good in his knock of 74. He was dismissed by Jerome Taylor. The score now was 280 for the loss of 5 wickets. 54 more runs needed with 5 wickets in hand, wasn't really a difficult task for the Indians.

VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni failed to contribute much to the Indian scorecard. Making things worse for India, Sehwag too departed after a well deserved century. Praveen Kumar, the tail-ender too failed to contribute much as he departed for just 7 runs.

India were looking in a state of border but it was the turbanator, Harbhajan Singh who played a fighting inning of 16 runs, making sure India just clinched the victory by 1 wicket, with 5 overs left for the end of the day.

It was a close match and could have shifted either way until the very last delivery. Congratulations to team India on winning the first test against West Indies.

It'll be interesting to see how the two teams approach the second test at Hyderabad.

Jeromey Taylor was the pick of the bowlers for the West Indies, taking 3 important wickets



India won by 1 wicket

----------------------
Man of the Match

Virender Sehwag
227 runs and 2 wickets