Not much international cricket last week, but what little there was made a huge impact and built upon the drama provided by Australia and South Africa to produce one of the closest Test climaxes in history.
I'll return to the India v West Indies later because there were a few other performances of note. In Brisbane, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder and Brendan McCullum clearly forgot they weren't playing 50-over cricket and smashed 29 sixes between them in New Zealand's two innings against Australia 'A'. Ryder cleared the ropes a world record-equalling sixteen times on the way to 175, including 28 off an Ed Cowan over.
In Bangladesh, West Indies won the final of the Women's World Cup Qualifiers thanks largely to an impressive display of off-spin by Anisa Mohammed. The 23 year-old claimed 7-14 in only 51 balls.
However, the most memorable and talked-about cricketing performances of the week came in that 3rd Test match in Mumbai. For Sachin Tendulkar it was another case of 'if only' while Darren Bravo showed the Indian legend how to hit a century. In fact the young Trinidadian struck his third hundred in four Tests and five team-mates each passed 60 against a struggling home attack. However, the spinners gained their revenge second time around. Regular opener Pragyan Ojha took 6-47 as the Windies collapsed to 134 all out, setting up a memorable final day when the game ended as a dramatic draw with the scores level and India nine wickets down. With a few balls to go, any of four outcomes were possible, almost unprecedented in Test cricket. My Player of the Week was involved throughout, with both bat and ball.
While Bravo et al were building a huge innings, Ravi Ashwin wheeled away for 52 overs, including five wickets. Then, he gave the Little Master a lesson on reaching three figures, making 103 well-crafted runs at number eight. With Ojha bowling at the other end, he proceeded to take 4-34 in the second innings then played his part with the bat as India closed in on their target while desperately trying to preserve wickets. For some he was at fault for not running quickly enough to beat Ramdin's throw for the second run which would have secured an amazing last-ball victory. However, he had more than played his part in such a thrilling encounter and so gets not just my forgiveness but also my Player of the Week award.
