After the hosts conceded a 108-run first innings lead,Ojha (6/47) and Ashwin (4/34) ripped through the batting order to bundle out West Indies for a paltry 134 in the second innings, leaving the hosts a target of 243 off 64 overs on a tricky fifth-day track.

The Indians relied on a breezy start from Virender Sehwag (60 off 65 balls) but faced a few anxious moments in the dying moments before being dramatically stopped at 242 for nine in the last over and had to be be content with a 2-0 series triumph.

It was a combination of some atrocious batting by the inexperienced West Indies batsmen and some superb bowling by the Indian spinners that brought the drab Test, which seemed headed for a tame draw till yesterday, to life.

Resuming at the overnight score of 81 for two, the visitors completely lost the plot on a Wankhede track which gave some assistance to the spinners as they lost eight wickets for a mere 53 runs in the action-packed pre-lunch session.

The Indian tailenders lacked the finishing firepower to overhaul the target in the thrilling chase with young Virat Kohli (63) playing a stellar role. Rahul Dravid (33) and VVS Laxman (31) were the other notable scorers.

The Indians needed three runs in Fidel Edwards last over but Varun Aaron consumed three balls without scoring a run. In the last ball, the hosts needed two runs and Ashwin could manage just a single before being run out.

There was a deathly silence at Tendulkar’s home ground as pacer Ravi Rampaul turned the “villain” by dismissing their favourite hero.

Interestingly, West Indies captain Darren Sammy’s statement last evening that he intended to “break a few Indian hearts” turned out to be prophetic as he took a sharp catch at the second slip off Rampaul delivery that bounced a trifle more with Tendulkar trying to play a square drive.

The disappointment was writ large on his face as he slowly trudged back to the pavilion with the crowd stunned into silence.

Starting on his overnight score of 67 not out, the legendary batsman was in a mood to get the coveted ton as quickly as possible.

The second new ball taken by rival skipper Sammy didn’t pose any problems as Tendulkar was sweetly timing the ball. In fact he reached the 90′s hitting a six off Fidel Edwards employing the upper cut over third man.

He also ran a fe quick singles with his partner Virat Kohli. His 153-ball knock contained eight boundaries and a couple of sixes hit in an identical manner off Edwards.

Tendulkar’s last international came on March 12 during a World Cup group league match against South Africa at Nagpur. It’s been more than eight months that the entire nation has been waiting with bated breath for the elusive century.

This is Dravid’s fourth ton at the Eden Gardens and his fifth of the year 2011. Dravid took 178 balls to reach the milestone and smashed nine boundaries and one massive six in the process.

Just few balls later, VVS Laxman completed his 56th Test half-century. He took 83 balls to reach the mile stone, hitting four boundaries in the process.

Sachin Tendulkar continued to remain in waiting for his elusive 100th international century even as India looked strong on 212 for three at tea on the first day of the second Test against the West Indies played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday.

The West Indies made two changes bringing in opening batsman Adrian Barath and pacer Kemar Roach in place of Kieran Powell and Ravi Rampaul.

The West Indies skipper Darren Sammy said their pacer Rampaul was yet to recover from the upset stomach. India lead the three-match series 1-0 after their five-wicket win in the opening Test in New Delhi.

Teams

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c&wk), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav.

West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Kraigg Brathwaite, Adrian Barath, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Carlton Baugh (wk), Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach and Devendra Bishoo.

Field umpires: Rod Tucker (CA), Bruce Oxenford (CA); Third: S Ravi, Fourth: Vineet Kulkarni; Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZC).

West Indies were at 256 for 5 in 91.0 overs after the end of day one here.

Pragyan Ojha was the higest wicket-taker, claiming six scalps, while R Ashwin took three.

Brief Score:
West Indies: 304 all out in 108.2 overs (S Chandrapaul 118; P Ojha 6/72).

Electing to bat, England were 298 for four in 50 overs against India in the third cricket One-day International at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here today.

Teams:India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c&wk), Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.

England: Alastair Cook (c), Craig Kieswetter (wk), Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Jonny Bairstow, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach.

Brief Scores: England: 298 for four in 50 overs (Jonathan Trott not out 98, Kevin Pietersen 64, Samit Patel not out 70, Ravindra
Jadeja 1/41).

Local heroes Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir gave ample display of their class as India relied on a clinical display to spank England by eight wickets.

The Indians first restricted the visitors to 237 all out riding on paceman Vinay Kumar’s career-best effort of 4 for 30 before Kohli (112 not out) and Gambhir (84 not out) rattled up the required runs — with as many as 80 balls to spare on a good batting track at the Ferozshah Kotla.

After the bowlers produced a disciplined show to dismiss England in 48.2 overs, Kohli and Gambhir took centrestage with a record 209-run partnership to script another huge win for the hosts following the resounding 126-run victory in the first game in Hyderabad on October 14.

The Delhi duo set a new record for the third wicket partnership against England, eclipsing the previous best of 175 between Navjot Singh Siddhu and Mohammad Azharuddin.

This partnership was also the highest third wicket partnership at the Kotla, surpassing the record of Sachin Tendulkar and Azharuddin who had stitched 175 runs.

Kohli took a single off Dernbach to not only notch up his 7th ODI ton but but also record the first century by an Indian at the Kotla in 15 years.

Tendulkar was the last Indian to hit a century during the 1996 World Cup match against Sri Lanka.

Electing to bat, most of the English batsmen — Kevin Pietersen (46), Samit Patel (42), Ravi Bopara (36), Jonathan Bairstow (35) and Jonathan Trott (34) — got the starts but could not translate them into big knocks after losing both their openers for a duck.Paceman R Vinay Kumar produced his best ODI bowling figures with a four-wicket haul as India restricted England to 237 all out in the second cricket one-dayer against India.

Electing to bat, the visitors lost both their openers Alastair Cook and Craig Kieswetter for ducks within the first two overs and could never really recover from the early jolts though there were some periods of English fightback at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground.

Karnataka speedster Kumar was the pick of the Indian bowlers with a career-best figure of 9-1-30-4, eclipsing his previous best of 2 for 51 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 2010.

Most of the English batsmen Kevin Pietersen (46), Samit Patel (42), Ravi Bopara (36), Jonathan Bairstow (35) and Jonathan Trott (34) — got the starts but could not translate them into big knocks.

The England innings could not have begun on a more disastrous note as they lost both the openers Cook and Kieswetter within the first two overs and without a single run on the board.

It turned out to be a dramatic start to the proceedings as paceman Praveen Kumar evicted England’s captain in the fourth ball of his first over and then Vinay Kumar dealt another blow for the visitors by accounting for Kieswetter in his first over.

Cook perished to a rather poor stroke as he tried to cut a delivery wide outside the off stump and Ravindra Jadeja took a smart catch at point.

Both the teams are unchanged for the match. India lead the five-match series 1-0 after winning the opening game by 126 runs in Hyderabad.

Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c&wk), Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.

England: Alastair Cook (c), Craig Kieswetter (wk), Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Jonny Bairstow, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach.

Praveen Kumar, India’s star bowler from their ill-fated tour of England, launched India’s defence of a total of 300 for 7 in fine style, opening up with a maiden to Cook, and he had not conceded a run when he extracted Kieswetter with his eighth delivery, a full-length ball that jagged off the seam to take a thin edge through to Dhoni.

The loss of their top-order powerhitter caused England to rejig their conventional batting order, with Kevin Pietersen emerging at No. 3 ahead of the more staid Trott. The plan looked to be paying off as Pietersen launched his innings with ominous resolve, but having struck three fours in a 28-ball 19, he attempted a quick single to mid-on where R Ashwin nailed him with a direct hit.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a superb innings under pressure and was ably supported by Suresh Raina as India posted a challenging 300 for seven against England in the first cricket one-dayer here today.

The Indian captain smashed an unbeaten 87 off 70 deliveries on a track where strokemaking wasn’t exactly easy. He found an able supporter in Raina who hit a 55-ball 61 after India opted to bat on winning the toss.

The last 15 overs yielded a whopping 150 runs as one got a glimpse of vintage Dhoni. The now famous ‘Helicopter shot’ fetched him plenty of runs as he hit 10 boundaries and a six en route his 42nd half century in ODIs. The innings assumed significance considering the amount of pressure he was in after England tour.

India were scoring runs at a sedate pace for the first 35 overs partly to the dual nature of the surface and also some disciplined bowling by the visitors before the duo started the hammering of the England bowlers adding 72 runs for the fifth wicket in only 10 overs.

Once Raina departed, Dhoni took it upon himself to punish the English bowlers who suddenly lacked discipline after bowling well for the better part of the innings.

It was Raina whose counter-attack in the mandatory batting Powerplay from 36th to 40th opened the floodgates as India scored 59 runs in those five overs. Raina hit his customary aerial shots in the arc between extra cover and mid-wicket while Dhoni also hammered Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn and Tim Bresnan with consummate ease.

Raina completed his half century with a six off Bresnan’s bowling and was trying to hit a slog shot. His 61 had five fours and two sixes.

Opting to bat first on a wicket which offered variable bounce to the England pacers, the Indian batsmen especially Ajinkya Rahane (15) made a complete mess of the first mandatory Powerplay when India managed only 47 runs losing Parthiv Patel’s wicket.India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat against England in the first of the five-match ODI series starting here.

India have decided to go with three seamers in Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav along with lone specialist spinner in R Ashwin.

For England, the notable omission from the playing XI is Ian Bell.India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Parthiv
Patel, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Umesh Yadav, R Vinay Kumar

England: Alastair Cook (c), Craig Kieswetter, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Jonny Bairstow, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn and Jade Dernbach.