After making a good recovery in the second innings, India had West Indies on the ropes (at least from the scorecard), and could not close the deal. The last wicket survived 19 balls and drew the first test.
I would say that at the end of the match, all honors were even and of course the momentum swung India’s way and the team will be happy going into the second test.
What is worrying me is the lack of productivity from Sehwag, and please don’t point me to the 4 wickets he has taken in this test!
And what was that with Lara and Dhoni? Who should trust whom? Lara wanted Dhoni to walk and Dhoni did not want to leave because he was not sure if the fielder touched the rope. But what the heck were the third umpires doing?? Why would they refer the decision back to the field umpires????? Once the field umpires ask the third umpire, they are already admitting that they have no clue about the fielder’s position. What is the basis for the third umpire to refer it back? Un-effing-believable.
Romit's Stream 
I presume you did not watch the last day’s game and only saw the scorecard. I did see most of the last day (yes, till 3:45 am IST; dozed off couple of times in between, but saw most parts, including the end). Some thoughts in that connection:1. The pitch did not deteriorate at all, so there was no serious purchase for the spinners,2. The inexperience of the pacers showed. During the long post-lunch session when Chanderpaul and Gayle remained unbeaten, the pacers bowled too much outside the off. Probably because Chanderpaul burned them for runs, when they pitched on the stumps. But they were never going to get wickets when bowling outside the off. 3. Munaf was warned for running on to the pitch. Due to that, he lost his rhythm and kept coming too far away from the stumps and did not get a good line at all. Otherwise he was the only pacemen, who perhaps had some firepower to trouble the latter batsmen.4. With the pitch the way it was, Kumble also could not run through inexperienced tailenders of the Windies. That was the sad part for me. I thought he would be very effective there, because of his accuracy, variation of pace, and fastish top spinners and googlies. But those guys managed to play him off. 5. In fact, the only bowler other than Kumble who looked like being able to take wickets, was Sehwag. He does bowl with intelligence and has a Sachin-like wicket taking ability. 6. Chanderpaul had a few close shaves including dropped catches (hard chances) and one missed stumping opportunity too, and that could have made a huge difference to the final outcome. I suppose Pathan will return in place of VRV. I do not believe we have regained the confidence to go with 5-1-5 team yet, so Harbhajan may still be out, unless the pitch looks clearly a turning wicket. I predict a tough series. We may lose the next before winning one of the balance two, and end up drawing or losing the series finally!
@spm: Great account, which of course I did not get from reading the scorecard. The fact is, I was so pissed after day 1, I lost interest in the match till I saw Jaffer was going strong. So, 2-1 is the series score, eh?
Yeah, my take is 2-1 in favour of West Indies or 1-1 with one more draw.And we will still be looking for a good overseas win – since Zimbabwe win does not really count! Lets see.. world focus will anyway shift to the football world cup now. TRPs for cricket will drop!
The replays were in conclusive.The camera were unable to cover the shot and Umpries were far far away.Lara should have been penalized but why was it not done remains as big a mystery as Indians not winning this test
Ian Bishop was explaining this on TV. And he is not a jingoistic guy (read Gavaskar) who will speak for his country, no matter what. And in fact, I heard him the day after, and making a point NOT for that decision, but “should such a thing happen again.. for any team.. clarity must be there..”. And he said that this referral to the third umpire was to see if the fielder crossed the rope or not. And if the 3rd umpire could not see it, then for SUCH cases, the benefit of doubt has to go to the fielder’s claims. It is like a boundary line call. If you cannot be sure if the fielder touched the rope or not, then benefit is given to fielder. On the other hand, for a run out, the benefit is given to the batsman. This was a matter of fact statement. Leaving our emotions aside, it may make sense, in a way.Still, Lara should have not argued, and if he did, he should be fined. That is a clear law! Likewise, as Jeremy Coney mentioned, the loss of 15 minutes there, for no real reason (finally, Dravid declared at that point anyway!), may have been crucial in the final result. If we had 3 more overs to bowl, we may yet have got the last man..
@spm: Were the TRP’s for cricket high anyway? I would have thought cricket was oversold in the last few years, with the number of matches and the TV channel controversies all the time. @tarun: Yes, I would think that the code of conduct should be fair and penalize all players who show a disapproval to an umpire’s decision. @spm: Ian Bishop? Jeremy Coney? WOW, the TV crews have become really sub-standard!!
In India cricket TRPs are not bad at all, I would believe. I am a prime example having watched the last day’s game till 3:45 am! Coney, Bishop – yeah, small fry cricketers. Add Dean Jones, Laxman Siva to the list with expert commentary from the studio, from Sanjay Manjrekar (lead), Javagal Srinath and Jeff Thomson. Quite a pot-pourri.Not like the star studded panel of ESPN.. :-(Having said that, Bishop and Coney are not too bad. In terms of cricketing knowledge and not going overboard (think Gavaskar / Srikanth / Sidhu..!) or having big egos (think Gavaskar again, Boycott..). And Manjrekar is reasonably balanced and so is Srinath. I am actually impressed by both of them.Smaller names, lesser brand equity, but good products…Though I miss Ian Chappell (best in my book), Tony Greig, Bill Lawry (“its all happening here at the Sydney Cricket Ground..”), Mark Taylor, Barry Richards, Harsha Bhogale.. Note, I did not mention more Indian names. No, Ravi Shashtri also does not make the cut, for me.
@spm: I miss the Channel 9 “Dream Team” in commentary. They are so good. Precise, (sort of) unbiased, technical, and of course full of cricket history wealth.
My prediction is on its way to be wrong! I don’t mind, of course.We cannot lose this second test now.. no way. And we will probably wrap it up by 4th day. Under so much pressure, this young West Indies team cannot really pull through.. Amazing turnaround in batting confidence for the Indians. And of course, the inexperience of West Indies bowling thorougly exposed..
@spm: You forgot Mother Nature :-)It rained on the 4th day and now it makes the bowlers’ job even harder.
Oh gosh.. another close game now, assuming the rain lets up. The spook of the first test, with the last few men hanging in there to salvage the draw, will come back to haunt India. Unless (finally) Kumble shows his true colors and the pitch has worsened to his liking..
@spm: Am not going to post about the second match, so I can say it here … they fail to close the matter here also :-)Of course, to their credit, they lost one day and still came so close to winning it. Hats off.