Who would have thought that with more than 1,100 runs and only 22 wickets falling in the first four days, and a pitch that looked flat, that there would be a thrilling finish to the third Test that a sparse crowd at the Wankhede stadium got to watch.
India's new spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha bowled superbly to give their much-vaunted batting line-up the chance to win the Test and thus make a clean sweep of the Test series.
On a pitch that had very little by way of encouragement to the bowlers, the spinners changed their tactics, gave the ball a bit more flight and slowed it down and thus got it to bounce and turn. The West Indian batsmen, not used to batting against such slow speeds just couldn't get their timing right and perished playing too soon at the ball. The batsmen who tried to drive against the turn lost their wickets either offering catches or being bowled through the gate.
A dead wicket and an even dead match was thus brought back to life by the spinners, who showed that they were prepared to be adventurous and concede a few runs to get wickets. It was almost like the spin era of old where flight was king and the quicker flatter ball was not the norm, but used as a surprise weapon.
Charmed life
The West Indies too realised that spin was the answer when they set out to defend their target and Marlon Samuels, who has only recently been cleared to bowl, was the bowler who the Indians had to watch out for. He is not a huge spinner of the ball, but by late afternoon the fifth day's pitch had started to dry and give the ball some grip if not bounce. The absence of Devendra Bishoo from the bowling for some time with an injury was a huge handicap and Sammy himself was not fit to bowl so effectively. The West Indians were defending their total with just three main bowlers. Bishoo did come back and tried the restrictive, round-the-wicket tactic which didn't quite work.
As always India depended on Virender Sehwag, and he led a charmed life being dropped no less than three times. Still, but for his aggressive intentions India could not have done what they did. He had a good partnership with Dravid, but then India lost three wickets in quick succession and at the stage it wasn't very certain if they were going for the win or not. Laxman and Kohli did the repair job and also kept the momentum going, but again after Laxman, Dhoni also did not stay long and it was here that memories of Dominica started to flash again. Then India closed shop despite having wickets in hand. When Kohli fell with 19 runs needed, the Indians showed that they were still looking to win with Ishant Sharma and Ashwin playing shots.
This was a refreshing approach, for it put the pressure back on the Windies.
— Professional Management Group