comatose Test sprang to life on the final morning in Mumbai as Pragyan Ojha and R Ashwin brought back memories of the years when India's spinners regularly ran through the opposition. A combination of generous turn and atrocious shot selection from the inexperienced West Indies batsmen left India 64 overs to try to chase 243 and complete a rare clean sweep of a three-Test series.
It had taken India nearly six sessions to get eight West Indian wickets in the first innings, but it required little more than an hour on Saturday morning at the Wankhede. The difference between their first and second innings was 456, the fourth largest in Test history, yet again highlighting their inability to put together two solid innings.
Darren Bravo and Kraigg Brathwaite began the morning with the same assurance they had shown on the fourth evening, as India attacked with only one spinner early on. Twenty minutes in, the game was meandering along with the lead nearing 200 when Brathwaite slapped a shortish delivery towards Sachin Tendulkar at gully. There was still nothing major for West Indies to worry about as Bravo, West Indies' best batsman, brought up 400 runs in the series, and fluently crashed Varun Aaron for consecutive boundaries.
That changed in one Ojha over, in a spell in which he gave the ball plenty of air and got it to spin. First Ojha floated a tossed-up delivery that invited the drive, Bravo responded by trying to carve it through his favoured cover region, only to edge it back to the bowler. In the absence of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the most-experienced batsman in the side is Marlon Samuels. The shot he played, though, hardly befitted his senior position in the side; he jumped out three deliveries into his innings, looking to heave Ojha against the turn and out of the park. He made no contact, and Dhoni did the rest.
It was then time for Ashwin to join the fun. Cartlon Baugh capped his horror match with an expansive drive that left acres of space between the bat and pad for an Ashwin offbreak to saunter through on its way to the top of middle stump. Suddenly, every delivery seemed like getting a wicket. Kieran Powell, a naturally aggressive batsman, was teased by a 7-2 leg-side field, enticing him to go for the big hit against Ojha's turn. He resisted that temptation but was undone by an Ashwin arm-ball, struck on the pad after playing for the turn.
West Indies were down to 120 for 7, with all their recognised batsmen dismissed. Rolling over the rest of the line-up was all too easy for India's spin pair, leaving the mighty home team's batting a challenge over the final two sessions. Virender Sehwag will need to be at his belligerent best if India are to have a chance of conjuring a win. India had shut shop when they had faced a tricky chase in the third Test on the tour of the West Indies earlier this year; it will be interesting to see how they go about it this time.
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