Photos (Day III): Tendulkar completes 15,000 Test runs

Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday achieved another milestone as he became the first cricketer in the history of the game to cross 15,000-run mark in Tests even as India closed in on a win in the opening Test against West Indies at Ferozshah Kotla.

Playing in his 182nd match, Tendulkar reached the mark when he scored his 28th run in India's second innings with a single off leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo. 

After crossing the coveted milestone, the batting maestro looked up at the heavens and acknowledged the standing ovation given by his teammates from the dressing room as his partner Rahul Dravid congratulated him. 

The West Indian players also came up after the completion of the over to congratulate the iconic batsman. 

Tendulkar was 35 runs short of 15,000 before this match and he scored seven in the first innings before being adjidged leg-before off Fidel Edwards.

Virender Sehwag (55 off 55 balls) provided the impetus to India's innings with a typically aggressive knock, to leave the hosts within 124 runs from a victory on the third day.

Sehwag along with Gautam Gambhir (22 off 32) started the chase in right earnest, putting on 51 runs in less than 10  overs. During his 80-minute stay at the crease, Sehwag delighted a turnout of 14,422 as well as he can with his pyrotechnics. 

After Gambhir flicked Fidel Edwards to deep square-leg boundary to start India's run chase, Sehwag launched into a booming straight drive off the same bowler. He followed that by whipping Edwards to the deep square-leg area.

The Nawab of Najafgarh then punished Marlon Samuels with a six over deep extra cover, before taking on Bishoo, whacking the leg-spinner for a massive six over long-on. 

West Indies skipper Darren Sammy provided the timely breakthrough by disturbing the Delhi batsman's timber. It was
his second fifty of the match, and 29th overall.

Earlier, inspired by Pragyan Ojha's first-innings performance, Ashwin stole the limelight through some smart spin bowling on a treacherous Feroz Shah Kotla track where 27 wickets have gone down in the last two days. 

In the process, Ashwin became the seventh Indian to begin his Test career with a five-for, and his match haul nine for 128 is also the second-best for an Indian on debut behind Narendra Hirwani's 16 for 136, incidentally, against the same opponents, on an underprepared Chennai track back in 1988. 

Ashwin, who dismissed opener Kieran Powell late yesterday evening to trigger the slide, deservingly signalled the end of the West Indies innings by having Ravi Rampaul caught at deep midwicket.

Just before Rampaul's dismissal, the 25-year-old off-spinner from Chennai removed Darren Sammy (42) with his trademark carom ball that skidded off the wicket, hardly giving the West Indian skipper any time to get his bat down.

But nothing would have given Ashwin more satisfaction than the prized scalp of Shivnarine Chanderpaul (47).

In the morning, Ashwin, along with another debutant, Umesh Yadav, led a strong Indian fightback by claiming two wickets apiece as West Indies went to lunch at a precarious 109 for seven.

Yadav meanwhile, after a none-too-impressive outing in the first innings, was putting in a lot more effort.

And it bore fruit when he dislodged Kirk Edwards' off-stump after the batsman decided to shoulder arm, for his maiden Test wicket. Edwards scored 33 off 80 deliveries, and found the fence four times. 

The Vidarbha pacer then had wicketkeeper-batsman Carlton Baugh when he induced a thick edge through to skipper  Mahendra Singh Dhoni.