MUMBAI, India, CMC – A work-man-like half-century from Denesh Ramdin failed to inspire West Indies and India gifted Sachin Tendulkar an innings and 126-run victory in the second Test yesterday to mark his retirement from the international cricket.
Ramdin hit the top score of 53, as the Windies were bowled out for 187 in their second innings on the third day before a Wankhede Stadium packed with fans of Tendulkar that came to wish him farewell.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul gathered 41, sharing a half-century stand with Ramdin and Chris Gayle made 35, but no other batsman reached 20, as left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha ended with 5-49 from 18 overs for match figures of 10-89 that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin finished with 4-89 from 17 overs.
To a tumultuous roar, the result was formalised about 15 minutes past the scheduled lunch interval when Shannon Gabriel had his middle stump spectacularly flattened by an in-swinging delivery from Mohammad Shami, the Indian bowling find of the series.
The victory meant West Indies were swept in the hastily-arranged, two-match series, following an innings and 51-run defeat in the first Test which ended two Fridays ago in Kolkata, and brought a fitting end to the international career of the batting legend, whose exploits have inspired a nation and transformed the fortunes of the national team.
Tendulkar, whose debut was against Pakistan 24 years ago in Karachi, became the first man to play 200 Tests in this match. He finished with an incredible 15,921 runs, the highest aggregate in the history of the longest format of the game, at an average of 53.78 and struck an unrivalled 51 hundreds, the highest number ever.
Ramdin struck eight fours and one six from 68 balls in just over one and a half hours, as West Indies crumbled after they resumed from their overnight total of 43 for three.
A rush of blood, resulting in a charge down the pitch which saw Marlon Samuels being stumped off left-arm spinner Ojha for 11 in the fifth over of the day, started the decline.
Opener Chris Gayle, a favourite in India due to his exploits in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament, exercised great restraint before he was caught behind four overs later from a top-edged cut off Ojha, who held a return catch to dismiss fellow left-hander Narsingh Deonarine two overs later, leaving West Indies 89 for six.
Ramdin came to the crease and spent close to an hour defying the Indian attack along with Chanderpaul to put on 68 for the seventh wicket.
But Chanderpaul was lbw, playing back to Ashwin, and there was token resistance from West Indies captain Darren Sammy, Shane Shillingford and Shannon Gabriel, as Ramdin reached his 50 from 60 balls with a drive off Ashwin through ‘widish’ mid-off.
Rohit Sharma was named Man-of-the-Series, after scoring back-to-back hundreds in his first two Tests for India.
The two sides now play three One-day Internationals, beginning on Thursday night (Caribbean Time) at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi.
