KOLKATA, India — Sachin Tendulkar ran in from the 30-yard circle and hugged Mohammad Shami, after he had knocked back Sheldon Cottrell’s middle stump as day three of the first Test drew to a close.

The debutant medium-pacer had just picked his maiden five-wicket haul, a total of nine wickets in the match, finishing off the game with a terrific spell of reverse swing post-tea.

The joy on the Master Blaster’s face told a story. In his penultimate Test, he wanted India to win, despite his own meagre contribution. But even he wouldn’t have imagined the hosts going up 1-0 in the two-match series so early in the match. The crowd at Eden Gardens stayed put, to cheer their hero as he bid goodbye. Maybe they were in a daze as well, considering what had just transpired.

As the players broke for tea, the West Indies were struggling at three down for 112. But there was no inclination of the collapse about to come. The next seven wickets fell for just 58 runs in the space of 22.1 overs. What makes it a stunning win is that only five sessions ago, India were struggling at 83 for 5.

Those five sessions therefore highlight the stars of this match. Shami and Rohit Sharma, debutants both on the Test stage, made quite an impact. For the medium-pacer, all of this success came at his home ground. In him, India found someone who could bowl with pace and seam, both ways at the same time. Someone who can use the new as well as the old ball, reverse it and bowl some Yorkers too, in short, an able partner for Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

For Rohit this was a coming of age. He has been in stupendous form all year and now he has taken the next step. This should confirm his spot in the Test side for a while and it will allow him to breathe easy, without that knife dangling and he can shine further. The way he manoeuvred the game exceptionally well and his partnership with R Ashwin was a sterling effort. And speaking about the off-spinner, he did well to record his second Test hundred. The Windies are his favourite opposition it seems.

Truth be told, Sammy picked a good bowling attack, albeit one lacking in experience in these conditions. Shane Shillingford was a real revelation but the problem was that he lacked ample support from other bowlers. Four regular bowlers, with two spinners, and then two all-rounders in Sammy and Marlon Samuels made a good choice. The problem was a lack of runs.

This team is very top heavy and relies a lot on Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. All of them got starts, particularly in the first innings, and then failed to make it count, going for strokes that didn’t exist. That aspect cannot really be taken out of any batsman’s approach, and so the Windies need to push Chanderpaul up the order. Maybe he should bat at three in Mumbai, holding one end up and allowing the others to bat around him.

While the visitors need to lift their game, India got what they wanted out of this Test. Head to Mumbai with a 1-0 lead, and no fear of losing the series. Of course after this performance they will want to make it a 2-0 series win and send off Sachin Tendulkar with a smile. It brings us to the Master Blaster’s 200th Test match and there is emotional sentiment overflowing in India.