Debutant Shami’s four-wicket burst puts India on top

ON THE BALL: Mohamed Shami bowls during his four-wicket haul against the West Indies in the first Test at the Eden Gardens yesterday. (Right) Sachin Tendulkar bowled two overs shortly after tea during the opening day’s play and trapped West Indies tailender Shane Shillingford leg-before for his 46th Test wicket in his 199th Test. (BCCI)

IANS/Kolkata

At stumps, India were 37 for no loss, with Shikhar Dhawan (21) and Murali Vijay (16) in the middle on a slow wicket where the odd balls kept low while some rose appreciably. Despite much hype ahead of the game, the half-filled stands belied hopes of a full house to honour batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar on his penultimate Test match at the iconic ground.

The 23-year-old Shami sent down quickish stuff, and gave a delightful exhibition of swing bowling to finish with figures of 4 for 71 besides playing his hand in a run out, to grab the spotlight from Tendulkar, albeit temporarily. His figures were the best by an Indian bowler on debut at the Eden Gardens.

Tendulkar, appearing in his 199th Test match, also drew applause from the 33,000-strong crowd for taking the wicket of Shane Shillingford at the stroke of tea.

Opting to bat on a wicket which their captain Darren Sammy thought was “tricky”, the West Indies saw their middle order give way in the post-lunch session as five wickets went down with the addition of just 54 runs. From 138 for 2, the Caribbeans slumped to 192 for 7.

Shami bowled with control, and became particularly lethal in the post-lunch session when the umpires replaced the ball after 40 overs. The fresh leather aided reverse swing, and Shami utilised the conditions to the maximum by getting rid of the dangerous-looking Marlon Samuels (65; 98b, 11x4, 2x6) — the top scorer for the visitors — and Denesh Ramdin (4) with two excellent deliveries.

In the morning, the visitors lost openers Chris Gayle (18) and Kieron Powell (28), by the first drinks break, before Samuels and Darren Bravo (23) stitched together a 91-run third wicket stand.

The destructive Gayle nudged at a Bhuvaneshwar Kumar delivery outside the off stump and the thick edge was accepted by Vijay at second slip, while Powell gave Shami his first Test wicket when an attempted pull finished as a top edge to Kumar.

Samuels completed his 19th half-century in 47 Tests in the second over after lunch with a single, but found himself in discomfort against Shami whose third spell read 7-0-30-2. Samuels got a life at 60, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropped a catch, Pragyan Ojha being the unlucky bowler. But the lapse did not prove costly, and Shami devoured Samuels with a quicker one that pitched on a length, jagged back and went through the gate to uproot the batsman’s middle stump.

The Caribbeans suffered another jolt soon after as Bravo played offie Ravinchandran Ashwin to the square leg region, and set out for an improbable run. His partner Shivnarine Chanderpaul did not respond, and Shami threw the ball to Dhoni to do the rest.

Shami delivered one more blow in his next over. Ramdin had no answer to an unplayable ball, that pitched on length and swung back sharply that beat the batsman and knocked out his off-stump.