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Saturday, November 26, 2011

A sensational draw at Wankhede – on the last ball of 3rd Test today.


A great advertisement for Test cricket and a perfect result – this Test at Wankhede would be remembered for the tension and the great result.  Those who did not watch the match in the end may never understand how a ‘draw’ could be termed a great result.

When the last over of the match was up – India needed 3 runs, WI needed 2 wickets and all the 4 results : an Indian Win, a WI win, a draw and a tie were in the realms of reality.  

The rookie Varun Aaron was at the strike and Fidel Edwards cleverly varied his pace without giving any run in the first three.  The 4th ball – misfield at midoff by Marlon Samuels and Indians scampered a single.  5th ball very cleverly  played by Ashwin without going for any swipe … clever because now only two results are possible – an Indian win or a draw.

6th ball was smashed to long on – was that Brathwaite ? – Ashwin not the quickest of the winners pushes himself, grounds his bat and a split second wait – Aaron is back running like a hare…   good throw to the keepers’ end – smart thinking by the fielder – Ashwin appeared a bit reluctant to go for the run – for a second you felt like blaming Ashwin – the hero who hit a century in the first, took 5 & 4 wickets and then made a good 14.  Perhaps his plan was that the throw would come to the non-striker’s end and if he stays till Aaron comes nearer, there is the possibility of that winning single.

Whatever it was India 9 wickets down, scores equal – no more overs – a Draw is the result.  Exactly 724 runs scored by both the teams – WI 590 & 134; India 482 & 242/9.

A great match indeed.

Regards – S. Sampathkumar.

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