The fans who turned up at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday didn't exactly get what they came for, but they did have reason to celebrate thanks to Ravichandran Ashwin's maiden Test century.
Spinner Ashwin stole Sachin Tendulkar's thunder on day four of the final Test against the West Indies with a maiden Test hundred to help India to 482 all out.
After Tendulkar fell six runs short of his 100th international century in the first session, Ashwin smashed 103 in the afternoon to lead the hosts' reply to the Windies' 590 all out.
Ashwin, playing in only his third Test, proved that he is more than an adequate replacement for Harbhajan Singh in the Indian team as he is just as useful with the bat. First he shared a 97-run stand with Virat Kohli (52) and then he worked with the lower order to get to the magical three figures.
His partnership with Kohli helped India to move past the follow-on target as they were stuttering at 331 for six following the dismissal of VVS Laxman, Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in what proved to be an excellent first session for the West Indies.
Tendulkar, who fell in the 90s for the 10th time in Tests and 28th time overall, tried to go for a cut off the final ball of the 87th over, bowled by Ravi Rampaul, and got an edge to Darren Sammy at second slip.
Laxman pushed the first ball he faced to Marlon Samuels at gully to become Fidel Edwards' first victim of the innings, while the India captain's lack of foot movement was the main reason for his downfall as he was bowled by a full one from Sammy.
That put India on 331 for six, but Ashwin and Kohli carried India to 428 before the latter ended up hitting the ball straight to mid-on as he looked to smash spinner Devendra Bishoo over the top.
Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron both fell cheaply to Samuels, but they managed to hold up an end to allow Ashwin to get closer to his century. Last man Pragyan Ojha made sure he kept the Windies bowlers out to allow Ashwin to go to his century off 117 balls. He was out caught at midwicket the next ball after attempting to pull Edwards.
The Windies, taking a lead of 108 into the second innings, made a sluggish start as they were 30 for two after 11 overs with Adrian Barath and Kirk Edwards the men to depart.
Barath hit Ojha straight to short cover while Edwards came charging down the track, also to Ojha, only to miss the ball and get stumped.
First-innings centurion Darren Bravo and Kraigg Brathwaite settled the nerves with an unbeaten 51-run stand to ease the Windies to 81 for two at stumps for an overall lead of 189.
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