Mixed feeling following thrilling test draw (From Asian Image)

Mixed feeling following thrilling test draw

7:10pm Saturday 26th November 2011 in Sport

India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin was left with mixed feelings after playing the central role in one of the most thrilling finishes ever to a Test match.

The spinner starred with bat and ball in the third and final Test against the West Indies, taking nine wickets in the match and making a century in his side's first innings.

But his nerves were tested at the end of the last day as India's chase of a victory target of 243 went down to the wire.

A vital stand of 15 with Ishant Sharma kept India in contention and, needing two from the final two balls bowled by Fidel Edwards, Ashwin blocked one ball and was then run out after hesitating needlessly over the second run needed for victory.

Ashwin told Sky Sports 3: "In the last few overs, I thought Ishant was playing well and the field was up, so I tried to rotate the strike because I thought we had a better chance of squeezing a boundary through and if we could get a boundary then we were almost there.

"At the end I thought I should take the safer option of defending out one ball and then attacking the last ball, but it didn't work out unfortunately.

"I didn't think it was going to go this far down to the wire. We thought we could prise them out and chase the score down but in the end it was a very good game and a tight game."

The dramatic chase had only been made possible after a West Indian collapse to 134 all out earlier in the day, with India then also losing wickets at regular intervals to put the pressure on their lower order.

Windies captain Darren Sammy, whose side lost the three-match series 2-0, said: "First of all, congratulations to India for winning the series.

"This match was a great advert for Test cricket - we have seen Australia v South Africa and now this match, it was a great end to a Test series.

"We didn't bat well today but at the end we gave ourselves a chance of winning. Well done to the lads, we came to India and fought hard."