Classy Tendulkar powers India to historic victory

Riding on knocks from Sachin Tendulkar (103*), Virender Sehwag (83) and Yuvraj Singh (84*), India galloped from behind to beat England by 6 wickets in the first Test at Chennai and take a 1-0 lead.

After England declared their innings on the fourth day for 386 runs, the match saw a dramatic turnaround when Sehwag went berserk to give India a fantastic start. He laid the perfect foundation for his mates to capitalize and was aptly adjudged the 'Man of the Match'. Though he lost his wicket on Sunday, he had the match split wide open.

Highest Fourth Innings winning Test totals
Runs	For	Against	Venue	Series
418-7	West Indies	Australia	St.John's	2002-03
406-4	India	West Indies	Port of Spain	1975-76
404-3	Australia	England	Leeds	1948
387-4	India	England	Chennai	2008-09
396-6	Australia	Pakistan	Hobart	1999-00
362-7	Australia	West Indies	Georgetown	1977-78
352-9	Sri Lanka	South Africa	Colombo (PSS)	2006
348-5	West Indies	New Zealand	Auckland	1968-69
344-1	West Indies	England	Lord's	1984
342-8	Australia	India	Perth	1977-78
340-5	South Africa	Australia	Durban	2001-02

Chasing the winning target, Gambhir resumed batting with Dravid with their overnight score of 131/1 on Monday. The duo added 24 runs for the second wicket when Andrew Flintoff dismissed Dravid for four runs. Dravid, who has been struggling with his form for quiet some time now, nicked a swinging delivery and wicketkeeper Matt Prior took a simple catch behind.

Soon after his dismissal, Gambhir slammed eighth Test fifty, his first against England and along with Tendulkar added 42 runs for the third wicket. He fell prey to Anderson for 66 runs after he slashed a delivery going outside the off-stump to Paul Collingwood at gully, who took a low catch to see the south-paw walk back.

Tendulkar came to the crease after Dravid's dismissal and repeated his 2001 Chepauk heroics to guide India to victory. He had played the protagnist in India's last win in Chennai against Australia in 2001. He repeated the feat on Monday when he scored the winning runs and also slammed his 41st Test hundred in the process.

Yuvraj, who was out of the Test side for months, made an impressive comeback in the second innings after failing to score in the first innings. He gave ample support to his senior pro and they added 163 runs for the fifth wicket. He completed his fourth Test fifty. The duo came together after VVS Laxman's fall.

Laxman had joined Tendulkar in the rescue act post-Gambhir's departure but his outing was cut short by England spinner Graeme Swann. Laxman deflected a delivery from him to Ian Bell at short leg. He scored 26 runs and added 41 runs with Tendulkar for the fourth wicket.

India and England now travel to Mohali for the second Test starting December 19.