3.40 pm At lunch on the second day, after India had lost five wickets for very little, who would have though they would win by an innings and 51 runs inside three days? A quite terrific turnaround, engineered by Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin and completed by Mohammed Shami.
rb: "Chanderpaul not doing enough at no.5, he has scored 31, 36no, improved his average, but done nothing for the team. He is not a big striker of the ball, so does not bat well with the tail. Best batsman has got to take more responsibility."
R Ashwin to Star Sports: "When I got in the way the wicket was behaving and Shillingford was bowling I thought I'd spend time at the crease and trust my defence ... he was giving it an extra rip, that was a bit of a challenge ... we enjoyed batting with each other, it was a pleasure watching Rohit bat. It was one of the best bowling spells I had, I was very happy, just focusing on lines."
I'll have the presentation for you shortly.
Vibhanshu: "Rohit Sharma's 177 is the second highest score by an Indian batsman on debut while Mohammed Shami's match figures of 9 for 118 are also the second best figures by an Indian debutant. Quite a coincidence!"
Shiva, from our stats team, tells me that Ashwin is the first India player to hit a hundred and take five wickets in a Test, twice.
AM: "Too bad about the farewell celebrations planned for the fourth and fifth days."
The presentation ceremony is about to begin. One of the officials is holding a strange green painting. Sachin Tendulkar is being felicitated by the Bengal chief minister before he receives that strange green painting and baskets of several things. Sourav Ganguly's put a turban on his head too. I doubt that painting will be hanging in Tendulkar's living room. He's getting a memento from a police officer too. He's going to need help carrying all this back to the hotel. Jagmohan Dalmiya is presenting Tendulkar with a statue of a banyan tree. A miniature one of course.
Apologies for calling Ganguly "someone" but I was trying to watch and type and there were too many people at the presentation.
Darren Sammy to Star Sports: "We get ourselves in good positions in Tests and then we give it away. Even when India were batting, we were in a good position at lunch yesterday and then we gave it away. Getting bowled out in 60-70 overs is not good. One of our goals was to bat at least a 120 overs and we didn't do that. I think credit must go to Shillingford, he bowled long long spells, to bowl 50 overs is a lot. The other bowlers should have backed him up more, myself included. The combination is one we have used in the Caribbean but we'll see what the best XI for Mumbai is."
MS Dhoni: "I think this was a fantastic performance, the second day was the worst to bat and it became a better wicket as the match progressed. It was the disciplined bowling that helped up. Shami was fantastic, he got the right length and that was the reason he got nine wickets. You need a bit of pace if you want to dominate, he has very good seam positioning which means he can reverse away from the right-handers too. On a wicket that has more bounce he can move the ball both ways. It is good to see how Rohit has batted, he is very talented but it is good to see it on the field."
Rohit Sharma is the Man of the Match for scoring 177 on Test debut.
Rohit: "All I can say, it [the wait to make debut] was worth it, it can't get better than this, such a memorable match, really happy with what we have achieved. We knew we had to extend the partnership as much as we can to get a lead. It wasn't easy to bat, runs weren't coming easy, we just wanted to stick out there and capitalise on loose balls. I really love playing at Eden Gardens, the crowd was amazing ... it's been a really memorable ground for me."
We're only a little more than five days away from the start of Sachin Tendulkar's final Test. Follow the build-up to his swansong on our Farewell Tendulkar page.
That's all I've got or you on ball-by-ball commentary today. Thank you for all your emails during the course of this Test. We'll see you for Mumbai in a week. Cheers.
SS Cottrell b Mohammed Shami 5 (13m 7b 1x4 0x6) SR: 71.42
END OF OVER:54 | 5 Runs | WI: 168/9
- Shivnarine Chanderpaul31 (60b)
- Sheldon Cottrell5 (6b)
- Ravichandran Ashwin19-2-46-3
- Mohammed Shami13-0-47-4
Ashwin has Cottrell in his sights. Dhoni's taking a while to set this field.
END OF OVER:53 | 4 Runs | WI: 163/9
- Shivnarine Chanderpaul31 (57b)
- Sheldon Cottrell0 (3b)
- Mohammed Shami13-0-47-4
- Ravichandran Ashwin18-2-41-3
Prashanth: "India has finally got the Chandrapaul issue sorted out.. Make him stand at the non strikers end.."
chandan khirwal: "Ashwin can be a contender for MOM too if he chips in with the remaining 2 wickets..that would be a century plus 6 wickets in the match"
Amar: "If ever there was a case for a Joint MOM ,then this would be it for the 2 debutantes"
END OF OVER:52 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | WI: 159/9
- Sheldon Cottrell0 (3b)
- Shivnarine Chanderpaul27 (51b)
- Ravichandran Ashwin18-2-41-3
- Mohammed Shami12-0-43-4
India on the verge of an innings victory. The debutant Cottrell is the last man.
TL Best c Ojha b Ashwin 3 (13m 9b 0x4 0x6) SR: 33.33
Sudeep: "Man of the Match decision for this match is going to be very interesting ... my Vote would be for Shami ... for his effort on Day 1"
Ganesh: "Shami has definitely booked a ticket for SA, hope its at the cost of Ishant and not Zaheer..."
END OF OVER:51 | 3 Runs | WI: 158/8
- Tino Best3 (7b)
- Shivnarine Chanderpaul26 (50b)
- Mohammed Shami12-0-43-4
- Ravichandran Ashwin17-2-40-2
Kiran: "Shami should thank James faulkner because if that famous 30 run over had not happened, Shami would still be carrying drinks."