BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel (left) presents Tendulkar with a portrait. The 40-year-old got a standing ovatation from the 25,000 crowd and a guard of honour from the West Indies team when he came onto the crease.
Mumbai: India’s batting great Sachin Tendulkar yesterday kept alive hopes of a big farewell knock with an unfinished 38 on the first day of the second cricket Test against the West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium here.
Tendulkar and Cheteshwar Pujara (34 not out) strung an unbeaten 80-run partnership for the third wicket to take India to 157 for two at stumps after Pragyan Ojha (5/40) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3/45) justified their captain’s decision to put West Indies in to bat by dismissing them for 182 in the first innings in 55.2 overs in less than two sessions.
A double strike by spinner Shane Shillingford to dismiss openers Shikhar Dhawan (33) and Murali Vijay (43) had left the hosts at 77 for two before Tendulkar and Pujara resurrected the innings.
Dhawan was the aggressive of the two and went after the West Indies bowling hitting seven fours in his 28-ball knock.
Murali followed him soon. Both fell to off-spinner Shillingford (2/46)in the space of two balls.
Never before has the fall of Indian wickets been cheered so wildly by the fans at home.
The crowd was getting impatient to see Tendulkar. It was exactly at 3.30p.m. when the master blaster walked down the stairs of the dressing room. The master had his customary look at the sky and he got a standing ovation from the 25,000 working day Wankhede crowd.
The West Indies team stood in a guard of honour as the giant screen displayed the images of the cricketing legend’s childhood.
What followed was pure entertainment for the fans as Tendulkar was in sublime touch. Every run he took, every boundary he struck, was wildly cheered by the fans and these strokes will remain etched in their memory for ever.
The 40-year-old brought the high-flying Shillingford to ground with two superbly timed fours in the 18th over, the first past point and the next past mid-off.
In the next over, he struck pacer Shannon Gabriel through the covers for his third four. For the puritans it was sheer delight.
The crowd went euphoric as Tendulkar drove down West Indies skipper Darren Sammy for a four through mid-on, that also brought up 150 for India.
As he walked off the ground, Tendulkar raised the bat to acknowledge applause all round.
An early tea was taken when Ojha had Gabriel caught behind for the sixth five-wicket haul of his career.
The West Indies, who went for lunch at 93 for two, lost their eight wickets for 89 runs.IANS
