Series dead: Windies buried after early funeral

The last time a West Indies team came as underdogs to Indian shores was in 1978-79 when Alvin Kallicharan led a team ravaged by defections to Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. But even that side had some outstanding cricketers in Kallicharan himself, Larry Gomes, Sylvester Clarke and a young, promising paceman Malcolm Marshall. That team showed plenty of spunk and India just about managed to beat them 1-0 in a six-Test series.

	SCOREBOARD
West Indies (1st innings) 167 India (1st innings) 316 West Indies (2nd innings): (Overnight 186/4) Sarwan lbw Zaheer 78; R Hinds c Kumble b Harbhajan 7; Jacobs c Parthiv b Zaheer 3; Breese c Ganguly b Harbhajan 0; Dillon lbw Harbhajan 4; Collins (not out) 6; Lawson b Zaheer 2. Extras (b12, lb3, w1, nb3) 19 Total (all out in 79.4 overs) 229 Fall of wickets: 4-179, 5-208, 6-210, 7-210, 8-214, 9-222 Bowling: Srinath 9-4-16-2; Zaheer 12.4-5-23-3; Harbhajan 30-6-79-4; Kumble 26-3-87-1; Sehwag 2-0-9-0 India (2nd innings) Bangar c Gayle b Hooper 20; Sehwag st Jacobs b Hooper 33; Dravid (not out) 6; Tendulkar (not out) 16. Extras: (lb3, nb3) 6. Total: (for 2 in 21.1 overs) 81 Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-61 Bowling: Dillon 5-1-10-0; Collins 2-0-7-0; Lawson 2-0-2-0; Breese 5.1-0-27-0; Hooper 7-1-32-2. Story continues below this ad

Like that side, this Carl Hooper-led West Indies team, was doomed to failure even before the start of the Test series. But unlike the Kallicharan-led team, this lot has easily embraced defeat and made it their signature tune. In the process, India have hardly been stretched and have gleefully notched up only their second series win over the Caribbean Calypsos at home (in 1978-79 and now).

The West Indian second essay which held so much promise on Saturday when they finished the day at 186 for four, went to pieces on Sunday morning. The lower-order batsmen, so used to defeat and a lack of self-belief, failed to put up even token resistance in one of the swiftest and most dramatic of collapses. The last five wickets tumbled in just 7.4 overs of woeful play for a meager 21 runs.

The abject surrender though, came later. Earlier in the day, when play commenced under lights, India found Ramnaresh Sarwan’s broad blade thwarting their best efforts of an early breakthrough. But the dismissal of Sarwan trapped in front by Zaheer Khan, paved the way for Harbhajan Singh to get at the lower order batsmen and trigger the collapse.

The effect of the roller too had worn off by then and Harbhajan was literally unplayable for these West Indies batsmen. Their poor shot selection also helped India’s cause. Hinds, disheartened perhaps by the dismissal of Sarwan, seemed to have had the fight knocked out of him. His attempt at an airy-fairy shot against Harbhajan came to grief quickly. Gareth Breese was snapped up at backward short leg in the very next delivery. A couple of balls later, Harbhajan picked up his third scalp of his 28th over when umpire Asoka D’Silva, who has had a bad series, gave Mervyn Dillon out leg before.

Certainly Harbhajan was not unplayable. But once he scented blood, he came on strongly and overwhelmed the batsmen. Of course Asoka D’Silva too succumbed to the enthusiasm of the appeals. Harbhajan’s three wickets in an over saw the visitors sliding from a decent 210/5 to 214/8.

Left arm paceman Zaheer Khan, who had earlier taken the prized scalp of Sarwan, mopped up the last two wickets. Ridley Jacobs was superbly pouched by wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel diving to his left while last man Lawson was yorked by a beauty. In between Saurav Ganguly injured himself by crashing into Anil Kumble while going for a catch. He hurt his back and had to be carried off the field in a stretcher. The West Indian collapse, left India with just 81 runs to get for the win.

Virendra Sehwag came up with some lusty hitting before being stumped off Hooper for 33. The other opener Sanjay Bangar (20) edged Hooper to slips before Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar guided India to an easy 8-wicket win within an hour after lunch.