Plenty of runs but no result

After hosts India took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Exide Cup series, what they were expected to do in the third and final match here at Eden Gardens was inflict an unprecedented whitewash on the Windies. Credit must be given to the Caribbean batsmen, who notched three centuries in their only innings to deny the home side accomplish their mission.

SCOREBOARD

India (1st Innings): 358 West Indies (1st Innings): 497 India (2nd Innings): S Bangar c Chanderpaul b Dillon 0; V Sehwag c Chanderpaul b Dillon 10; R Dravid lbw Powell 17; S Tendulkar c Gayle b Cuffy 176; S Ganguly lbw Cuffy 16; VVS Laxman not out 154; P Patel run out 27; H Singh c Hooper b Samuels 26; J Srinath c Hooper b Chanderpaul 21; A Kumble not out 8; Extras: (b-8, lb-7, w-1) 16 Total: (For 8 wkts, 159 overs) 471 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-11, 3-49, 4-87, 5-301, 6-373, 7-407, 8-458 Bowling: Dillon 25-6-85-2, Cuffy 17-3-52-2, Lawson 22-3-65-0, Powell 25-4-53-1, Hooper 20-1-63-0, Gayle 23-5-70-0, Sarwan 8-1-38-0, Samuels 16-3-21-1, Chanderpaul 3-0-9-1 Result: Match drawn India win the series 2-0

Credit also must be given to India that after conceding a big first innings lead — 139 to be precise — they rallied in a splendid manner, thanks to Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman for their centuries, to draw the match. But what clearly disappointed the 50,000 strong crowd at the Eden was that the home side made no effort to make the finish a close affair. Instead, they prolonged their second innings a little too far thereby denying the opposition a chance to bat the second time.

It is true that when the fifth and final day’s play started India were in a difficult situation and needed to bat extra carefully on a wicket, which had provided enough assistance to bowlers during the first hour’s play on fourth day and was expected to do so on the final day as well. But Tendulkar and Laxman batted through carefully to take India from the overnight score of 195 for four to 299 for four at lunch for a lead of 160.

After the end of fourth day’s play, Harbhajan Singh had expressed his eagerness to have a go at the opposition in their second innings and press for a victory. But that did not materialise as the West Indies were not given a chance to bat again. This being the summary of the dull last day’s proceedings, what brought some relief and cheers to the paying public was a hard-earned century by Laxman — his fourth in Test career — and his 214-run fifth wicket association — a new record against the West Indies — with Tendulkar, a cameo 26 by Harbhajan and a useful 27 by the rapidly-improving Parthiv Patel.

Another notable aspect of the last day’s play was that belying all predictions, the Eden strip did not cause any problem for the batsmen. It also proved to be a gruelling day for Carl Hooper and his team mates as neither their bowling nor their fielding worked. They missed two catches to help Tendulkar and Laxman escape on their individual score of 171 and 83, respectively. Of course, Tendulkar fell six runs later, caught by Chris Gayle off Cameron Cuffy.

Laxman, who was let off at slip by Chanderpaul off the bowling of part-time spinner Chris Gayle, remained unbeaten on 154. Harbhajan who played an explosive 26 runs innings was also adjudged the man of the series, while Tendulkar received the man of the match award.