Close India 195 for 4 (Tendulkar 114*, Laxman 30*) and 358 lead West Indies 497 (Hinds 100, Chanderpaul 140, Samuels 104; Harbhajan Singh 5-116) by 56 runs
Scorecard

India finished a tumultuous day 56 runs ahead of West Indies with six wickets standing, after Sachin Tendulkar scripted and executed one of his finest-ever innings on home soil.

Much has been said about Tendulkar's inability to play the big innings when India need it most, but this Eden exhibition was a fitting riposte to all the doubters. It was his 31st Test hundred and undoubtedly one of his most valuable. It was a day when Marlon Samuels scored the first of what could be many Test centuries, but his thunder was stolen by a batsman many consider second only to Bradman.

VVS Laxman – who knows a thing or two about salvage operations at Eden Gardens – kept Tendulkar company with casual elegance and stout defence, as India battled back from the edge of an abyss after lunch. Once again, the West Indian tail had forgotten to wag, but a fiery new-ball spell from Mervyn Dillon had pushed India to the wall.

Tendulkar has been guilty of choosing restraint over natural aggression in the recent past but today, he was back to his fluent best. His cover-drives were immaculately timed and a pair of straight drives singed the turf, while a couple of lifters from Dillon were dispatched past point with a disdainful twirl of those powerful wrists.

More importantly, the runs came too quickly for Carl Hooper and his team to take stock. They did contain Tendulkar for a while in the 90s, by bowling well outside off stump, but the moment they pitched on line, he picked them off. He reached his first hundred in Kolkata with an uppish cover-drive for two off Darren Powell, but thereafter it was all about keeping the powder dry for another battle, another day.

West Indies had landed all the early blows, despite another batting collapse. To everyone's bemusement, Ganguly gave the ball to Virender Sehwag first up. His first ball to Shivnarine Chanderpaul was cover-driven for four, but the third one flew off the top edge to gully. Sehwag and Ganguly danced while Chanderpaul walked back after another India-bashing epic that had realised 140 runs (450 for 6).

Two spanking cover-drives and a single to mid-on, and Samuels reached his first Test century, but he was soon snapped up by Sehwag at short leg off Harbhajan Singh. (469 for 7). Darren Powell ducked in and out, leg before to Anil Kumble, but Ridley Jacobs and Jermaine Lawson, unorthodox and fortunate, kept the Indians frustrated for half an hour before Kumble and Harbhajan ended matters. Harbhajan had another Kolkata five-for to savour, but India were 139 in the red.

It got much worse when Dillon, defending a lead for a change, started with a wicket first ball. He pitched one outside off stump that Sanjay Bangar could only edge. Chanderpaul dived to his left from third slip to pouch a stunning catch (0 for 1).

Sehwag replied with two boundaries, but was undone by Hooper's plan and Dillon's execution. A delivery lifted into the ribcage on a leg-stump line and Sehwag's attempted fend lobbed to leg slip, where Chanderpaul – shifted across from slip by Hooper – held on gleefully (11 for 2). Sehwag made just 10. Both he and Rahul Dravid were tested by Dillon who jagged the ball back in sharply but also got the odd one to move away.

But Tendulkar started as he meant to go on, playing a magnificent back-foot cover-drive and a cracking off-drive early on. Dravid was no less easy on the eye, essaying a glorious straight-drive and a gorgeous cover-drive when offered the width.

The back-up for Dillon was disappointing and India were all set to go into lunch with no further damage done when umpire Asoka de Silva stepped in. In the first innings, it was David Shepherd that gave Dravid out leg before off the inside-edge. This time, de Silva lifted the finger despite contact that could only be described as meaty. Darren Powell and friends celebrated, while Dravid – who made 17 – trudged back with a rueful shake of the head (49 for 3).

He wasn't the only to get that sinking feeling. Ganguly had given Tendulkar gritty support for three-quarters of an hour after lunch when he was undone, again by de Silva. Cameron Cuffy pitched one just outside leg stump and the angle of delivery was such that it would surely have missed off stump. But de Silva's finger went up quicker than Errol Flynn departed boudoirs and Ganguly, who made 16, was left to perform that by-now-familiar "woe is me" routine (87 for 4).

For all their dominance of the first two Tests, India have much to do to avoid a fourth defeat by West Indies in Kolkata. Just what is it about Eden Gardens that lends itself to unforgettable Test matches and performances that accompany you to memory's end?

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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