India win with a lot to spare

If the old-hand displayed his indelible class,Ravichandran Ashwin,playing his second Test,produced an off-spinner’s delight while getting the better of Kemar Roach. Ashwin’s off-break drifted away from the batsman before spinning in through Roach’s bat and pad to disturb his stumps. The end came soon after,with Umesh Yadav providing the final thrust to hand India a handsome victory by an innings and 15 runs along with an unassailable 2-0 series lead.

MS Dhoni & Co could be pardoned for believing that going through the motions on the fourth morning would be enough to pack off the West Indies a second time around. Few believed the game could stretch into the final session,leave the fifth day. Eventually,it took a bunch of exceptional performances to justify that belief. After being humiliated in the first innings,the West Indians did look intent on avoiding the ignominy. With the pitch not housing any devils and led by Darren Bravo’s century and a largely fortuitous knock from Marlon Samuels,the West Indians proved they did possess the heart for a fight.

It was Pragyan Ojha who got the ball rolling. His delivery didn’t have bite or drift,but it carried on with the angle and Bravo,who scored an impressive 136,couldn’t help but feel for it with an open-faced bat to hand Dravid his 208th Test catch.

Playing mainly off the back-foot against spinners,Samuels had looked all at sea in countering Ashwin at Delhi. Here,the right-hander looked more at ease and even walloped the off-spinner for a mighty six over mid-wicket. But Ashwin would have the last laugh,as he deceived Samuels in the air,and trapped him in front of his stumps on the back-foot. It wasn’t as dazzling as the ball he would bowl soon after to get rid of Roach,but it did terminate the final obstacle in India’s path to an innings victory.

The task of delivering the final rites was,however,reserved for Yadav. For long,India has bemoaned the lack of a fast bowler with the ability to not only intimidate but polish off the opposition tail. Yadav ensured there was no annoying resistance at the back end of the West Indian innings,by first sneaking a full-pitched delivery past Darren Sammy’s swinging blade before leaving Devendra Bishoo’s off-stump floored.

But the rip-snorting manner in which he tore past the West Indian lower-order will definitely remain the lasting memory on the second Test,on a day when a young Indian bowling attack and a veteran with an experienced pair of hands put on a special show at the Eden Gardens.