Lunch West Indies 93 for 2 (Powell 45*, Samuels 0*) v India
The final Test of the Sachin Tendulkar Farewell Series began with a bunch of tributes to the legend - the BCCI president N Srinivasan handed him a memento, a painted portrait was presented to him, the West Indies side gave him a framed autographed shirt, the coin at the toss was a specially minted one featuring Tendulkar, and MS Dhoni gave him a special cap with '200' printed on its brim which he used instead of his usual floppy hat.
For all that, once play began he was a peripheral presence, as to the dismay of fans lucky enough to wrangle a ticket to the first day India chose to bowl at the Wankhede Stadium. It was a track that was expected to have some juice in it, and though the ball did nip around and there was bounce for the bowlers, West Indies reached 93 for 2 by lunch, a position they will be satisfied with, especially after the disastrous batting in Kolkata.
India's new-look opening pair, Bhuvneshwar Kumarand Mohammed Shami - who was touching speeds of 145 kph - had the ball swerving around, beat the bat often, and will be disappointed India didn't have more than two wickets to show. Chris Gayle decided, like an increasing number of batsmen these days, that the way to counter the early swing was to step down the pitch. He wasn't around long enough to demonstrate the effectiveness of the strategy as he was surprised by a rearing Shami delivery, which he prodded to gully for 11.
His opening partner, Kieran Powell, had a nervy time early on - beaten by good deliveries, swinging and missing, and lifting the bat too late when looking to leave causing an unintended deflection. He survived it all, though, and mixed in some crisp drives to the boundary. Powell's reached 20 in each of his three previous innings without going on to anything substantial and that was nearly the case today as well when he edged Bhuneshwar, only to see R Ashwin react late to a simple catch at first slip.
That over showed Bhuvneshwar at his best, as his incutters left Darren Bravo clueless, and surviving close lbw calls on successive deliveries. Bravo responded by taking on Ashwin the next over, with a six and a four to get his innings going.
Ashwin made amends for his drop by dismissing Bravo for 29 with a delivery that spun and bounced, that Bravo edged behind. Powell's still there on 45, and West Indies have extended their batting by bringing in Narsingh Deonarine for Veerasammy Permaul, but with the spinners getting plenty of help in the first session itself, batsmen could be in for a thorough examination as the game progresses.
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