Best Indies

It was that kind of a day.

The clock had barely touched 5.30 pm, and world cricket had stopped at the Sabina Park to watch India dump 35 years of shame in the dustbin, win a series in the West Indies for the first time after Ajit Wadekar’s XI in 1971.

“C’mon boys,” shouted Dravid in the dressing room, having logged the biggest moment in his eight months as captain. There was his wife Vijeta looking on, proud, face glowing, eight-month-old Samit soaking it all in, not quite sure what the noise was all about.

“Ab aap duniya ko bata do, humne kar dihkaya. Yeh jeet hamesha yaad rahega (Go tell the world we have done it, this victory will always be remembered),” said Ikhar’s pride Munaf Patel, delirious, almost incoherent. His friend and India’s young hero Sreesanth was already flaunting his break dance moves for the cameras before turning to say, “They would have started partying in Kochi, maan.” Ranchi’s MS Dhoni was having a go at his Baroda mate Irfan Pathan, coaxing him to come out, pose with the fans.

It was that kind of a day.

Beyond Kumble’s six wickets, Sreesanth’s crucial three, Harbhajan’s five in the first innings, Dravid’s match-winning double 50s, it was also a day when village and city, veteran and rookie, Australian coach and Indian players, rose as one to bury the sour tang of the recent past, the excess baggage of Barbados in 1997 and Sabina Park, again, in 2002.

“Sometimes people don’t know the effort and the pressures that international cricketers and the Indian team go through. I am just happy for the dressing room, I looked around the dressing room and I saw some happy faces, I know the effort they have put in, the pressures they have been under and the tough times they have had, and it’s nice to see the happiness and joy,” said Dravid.

“It’s been 10 years since I started playing, and it’s the first time that we have won a series outside the sub-continent. It’s a different kind of joy. There are a lot of guys in the team who have played a lot of cricket but haven’t got this kind of win. This is a great moment,” he added. “Great moment,” agreed Chappell. “Fantastic win,” said Kumble, who shrugged off the disappointment of St Kitts when South African umpire Brian Jerling said no to almost every other appeal. Today, Jerling gave three lbws in his favour. Yes, it was that kind of a day.

For the West Indies, chasing 269, the writing on the wall was clear when Brian Lara was sent off by a skidder from Munaf—29/3. But it still took a while for India to get close enough to read what it actually meant as Ramnerash Sarwan and later brave Denesh Ramdin stood up to do their bit for Caribbean pride.

A 70-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo, 36 for the eighth wicket between Ramdin and Jerome Taylor, another 39 for the ninth wicket between the wicketkeeper and Pedro Collins, the West Indies had crossed 200. The first worry lines had appeared on the faces of the 100-odd Indian fans at the south end. But as Srinivas V, a techie from California, said, “Why fear when Kumble’s there.”

Sure enough, minutes later, another 49 to go, the veteran got No 11 Corey Collymore to edge one behind to Dhoni, it was all over—the series, the Test, the tension. But is India finally the “finished article”? Not really, not yet, as Dravid pointed out. He would surely agree that it was a series they should have won 2-0, despite that rainy day in St Kitts. Remember, we are world No 3, they are world No 8. And yes, there may be questions asked after the euphoria dies down: on how our middle order crashed again and again, on how our young pace attack will cope against biggest teams, on our close-in catching, on selection, on the one-day series lost.

But then, that’s for another day, not when Munaf and Sreesanth are dressing up for the party, not when Chappell would be reaching for a long sip of chilled beer, unwinding after a nerve-wracking 55 days, definitely not when Dravid is celebrating India’s first overseas win after England 1986—not counting Zimbabwe, of course. “We will try to spend some time together, relax, probably catch up on a lot of sleep,” said the skipper.

“Whenever we were asked questions in difficult situations, we found the answers. The boys stuck it out and they showed a lot of resilience at the end of a seven-week tour, a lot of grit, to win this one. Low-scoring games on difficult wickets are tough. They put you under lot of pressure, they ask a lot out of you. Every run matters, every ball matters. You know that everything you do counts,” said Dravid.

It did, because it was that kind of a day.