The curtain came down on Sachin Tendulkar’s storied Test career with one of India’s most comprehensive victories, as a hapless West Indies crumbled on the third morning in Mumbai, reports Cricinfo. Tendulkar walked off the field with a tear in his eye and to a fluid guard of honour from his team-mates, soaking in the cheers of the Wankhede crowd one last time, reports Cricinfo.
Pragyan Ojha took his second five-for of the match, and Ashwin finished with seven in the match, but the only spin bowling Indian fans wanted to see was the all-sorts of Tendulkar.
Ten minutes before the scheduled close of the first session, by when West Indies had lost eight wickets in another inept batting performance, Tendulkar was brought into the attack. Though the crowd was desperate for a wicket, Tendulkar’s final two overs produced no breakthrough.
MS Dhoni brought back his main bowlers and within a handful of overs, the Test was brought to an end with Mohammed Shami flattening the middle stump of the West Indies No. 11 Shannon Gabriel.
West Indies’ batsmen hadn’t shown much aptitude for a fight earlier in the day either, as the spinners enjoyed the bounce and turn on offer. In the sixth over of the morning, Marlon Samuels charged out to Ojha, was nowhere near the pitch of the ball, and was yards out of the crease when Dhoni took the bails off. Soon after, another player who has had a rough series, Chris Gayle, was caught-behind for 35 off Ojha and West Indies were five down. With those two big wickets, the question was whether West Indies would last the session.
The man brought in to strengthen the batting in this Test, Narsingh Deonarine, fell for a duck, bringing in another player whose critics will only get louder after this game. Darren Sammy had played an atrocious shot in the first innings to bag a duck and he nearly fell first ball this time, a leading edge just landing short of mid-off. The relief for Sammy didn’t last long, though, as after an over in which he was tormented by Ojha, he missed an arm ball to be trapped lbw.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the only West Indies batsman to have shown the wherewithal to grit it out consistently this series, resisted with 41, and Denesh Ramdin went on to a half-century but given the mammoth lead India had, it was only a matter of time. Chanderpaul was the man to depart, with Ashwin getting him lbw and running off in celebration.
West Indies may have come into the series on the back of six victories, but the pitiful challenge they put up shows that they have regressed in the last two years. In those two years, the Indian team has undergone a major overhaul, and while the verdict on their performance will have to wait till they are tested overseas, they have done enough to send off Tendulkar with a record six Test wins.
BRIEF SCORE: India 495 (Pujara 113, Rohit 111*, Tendulkar 74, Shillingford 5-179) beat West Indies 182 (Ojha 5-40) and 187 (Ramdin 53*, Ojha 5-49, Ashwin 4-89) by an innings and 126 runs
AFP ADDS: Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar wept as he left the pitch for the final time on Saturday after his 200th Test match, ending a glittering career spanning nearly a quarter of a century, reports AFP.
The master batsman, who has god-like popularity across India, waved to thousands of cheering fans and wiped tears from his eyes as he left the field through a guard of honour formed by his teammates at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium.
At the age of 40, Tendulkar is retiring from the game as the world’s leading scorer in both Test and one-day cricket and the only batsman to score 100 international centuries.
To the disappointment of his ardent followers, the “Little Master” only batted for one innings during the match in his hometown against the West Indies, failing to clinch a fairytale final century when he was out for 74 on Friday.
His dismissal was met by a stunned silence followed by a standing ovation from the stands, where the crowds had cheered his every run with deafening roars, television broadcasts showed.
Spectators nevertheless praised his final performance, which included 12 well-timed boundaries to remind them of the best that Tendulkar has produced since his international debut in 1989.
“His 74 runs captured all we have come to love and celebrate about him,” said a piece in the Hindustan Times daily, with the headline: “Thank you, thank you, thank you”.
“A billion dreams end,” said the Times of India.
The star’s wheelchair-bound mother, Rajni, watched her son bat in person for the first time after a special ramp was built for her at the stadium for his final match. She had previously worried her presence may bring her son bad luck.
Tendulkar failed to score a Test century in the last 40 innings of his career, with the final of his 51 Test tons coming nearly three years ago in January 2011 against South Africa.
His declining powers in recent years had led some to suggest he should have retired earlier, but such criticism failed to dent his superstar status among India’s 1.2 billion people.
Global cricketing greats Brian Lara and Shane Warne flew in to join Indian politicians, corporate leaders and Bollywood stars at Wankhede for Tendulkar’s emotional swansong.
Due to an ongoing dispute between media groups and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Agence France-Presse was unable to provide coverage of the match.
TENDULKAR FACTFILE
Factfile on India’s record-breaking batsman Sachin Tendulkar who retired on
Saturday after playing his 200th Test match:
Full name: Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
Right-hand batsman, right-arm spinner
Major teams: India, Mumbai.
Height: 5 feet, 5 inches (165.1 centimetres)
Career:
Tests:
Matches 200, Runs 15,921, Highest 248 not out,
Average 53.78, Centuries 51,
Half-centuries 68. Wickets 46
One-day internationals:
Matches 463, Runs 18,426, Highest 200 not out, Average 44.83,
Centuries 49, Half-centuries 96. Wickets 154
Twenty20:
Match 1, Runs 10, Average 10.00. Wickets 1.
World records:
– Most Test runs and centuries
– Most one-day runs and centuries
– Only batsman to score 100 international centuries
– Most appearances in Tests and one-day internationals
– 1,000 or more Test runs in a calendar year
– six times: 1997, 1999, 2001,
2002, 2008, 2010
– 1,000 or more one-day runs in a calendar year
– seven times: 1994, 1996,
1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2007
Key dates:
April 24, 1973 : Born in Mumbai
December 11, 1988 : First class debut aged 15 with a century
November 15, 1989 : Test debut v Pakistan, Karachi
December 18, 1989 : One-day debut v Pakistan, Gujranwala
August 14, 1990 : Maiden Test century v England, Old Trafford
aged 17
December 10, 2005 : Overtakes Sunil Gavaskar’s world record
of 34 Test tons
October 17, 2008 : Overtakes Brian Lara as highest run-getter in Tests
February 24, 2010 : First batsman to score 200 in one-day cricket.
April 2, 2011 : World Cup winner with India
March 16, 2012 : Becomes only batsman to score 100 international tons.
November 16, 2013 : Ends career after playing his 200th Test. He had already retired from one-day and Twenty20 cricket.
-With Cricinfo/The News Today input
