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July 02, 2006 (Click to see the Scorecard)

Rahul Dravid’s men created history on the third day’s play of the fourth and final Test Match at Sabina Park by becoming only the second Indian team to win a Test series in the Caribbean. India achieved this rare feat after 35 long years; their previous win was in 1970-71 – the series in which Sunil Gavaskar had scored 774 runs. India had posted a target of 269 which looked like a tall mountain to climb once the homeside lost the wickets of Lara and Chanderpaul. But the youngsters in the side Sarwan, Bravo and Ramdin played great cricket to ensure that Windies went down fighting till the end. West Indies’ defeat had come mainly because of the sins they committed with the bat in the first innings where they were shot out for 103. Anil Kumble with six and Sreesanth with three wickets were the two main bowlers instrumental in bowling out West Indies in the 2nd innings for 219.

 

Tale of the Morning Session

India was on a mission of adding up as many runs as possible to make the target that much more difficult, the overnight lead was a healthy one at 225. Dravid and Kumble resumed their innings and both batsmen hung in there for more than half an hour, but the runs weren’t coming at all due to the tight bowling from Collymore and Taylor. Kumble finally gave away as he couldn’t handle the extra bounce generated by Collymore from the good length region and India were reduced to 141 for 7. Kumble once again chipped in with a useful innings though it was just 10 runs this time. Harbhajan came in next and he struck two boundaries, but he had to see Rahul Dravid bowled at the other end to a ball that kept very low from Collymore. Dravid could add just 6 to his overnight score of 62. Sreesanth, the no. 10 looked very good this time as he was keeping his eyes on the ball and was also upsetting the bowlers’ length by charging down. He hit one six off Jerome Taylor after coming down the wicket and slogging him to mid wicket. His cameo did come to an end as Taylor banged it short to get the tail ender to fend it to slip. Sreesanth made a valuable 16 runs and Harbhajan Singh was out two balls later poking Collymore to the slips. India got bowled out for 171 with Corey Collymore picking up his 4th fifer on this ground. Jerome Taylor finished with four wickets which meant that he missed out on 10-wicket haul by just one wicket. It was always going to be difficult for West Indies to make 269 on this track, but anything under 300 can be achieved with a couple of big partnerships.

Once again the potentially dangerous Chris Gayle failed, falling for a pair and it was again the first over of the innings bowled by Sreesanth. It was just the 2nd ball of the innings that Sreesanth got the extra bounce to get Gayle hanging his bat outside the offstump. Perfect start for India but Ganga and Lara ensured that West Indies lost just that wicket before going for lunch with 18 on the board after 7 overs.
 

Tale of the Afternoon Session


The two Indian fast bowlers Sreesanth and Munaf took Ganga and Lara’s wickets in quick time after the break and that looked like to be the downfall of West Indies. Ganga was the first to go as he was cleaned up by a full length outswinger from Sreesanth and Lara who shuffled across was beaten by the late inswinger from Munaf that rapped him up infront of the stumps. Down and out were West Indies at 29 for 3, the next pair of Sarwan and Chanderpaul then started the reconstruction work. Chanderpaul after scratching around and marking his guard again and again was soon given out lbw by Rudi Koertzen after being beaten in the air by Kumble’s flighted leg break, the left hander was struck low on his frontpad after looking to work it to the onside. Sarwan then had Bravo to team up and the pair saw West Indies through the session without losing any more wickets. By this time both batsmen were attacking the bowling as a means of upsetting their rhythm. West Indies went to Tea at 85 for 4 with another 184 to win.

Tale of the Final Session


The partnership between Sarwan and Bravo blossomed after the Tea Break. Sarwan was also at his attacking best and he got to his fifty soon with the help of 7 fours. Dravid had to get back Sreesanth as the spinners were being taken to the cleaners and the fast bowler answered his captain’s request by forcing Sarwan to edge to the slips. It was a perfect outswinger that got big for the batsman in his forward defence after landing on the seam. In the next over, Bravo showed his inexperience by not picking Kumble’s skidder and he went for a sweep shot only to have his furniture disturbed. West Indies slipped to 128 for 6 with Bravo gone for a fighting 33, Indian team was relieved with those two wickets. Few overs later, Marlon Samuels was shockingly given out as lbw as he was beaten on the backfoot by a straighter one which pitched on the legstump and looked most probably to miss the leg. Kumble was fortunate to get this lbw in his favour but Hawk Eye suggested that it would have hit the legstump! That wicket left Denesh Ramdin with the tail and 125 runs to get. Both Ramdin and Taylor started to worry the Indians and the two put on 36 runs before Taylor was plumb in front to Kumble. Taylor made 20 with 4 fours and after he got out, West Indies required 89. There was nothing that could stop Ramdin and he found Collins supporting him well and he started to give him the strike as well against Kumble. Ramdin went onto score his 3rd Test Match fifty and that was a great innings from him under pressure. However the leggie finally got his straighter one to beat Collins to strike his backpad and Corey Collymore who came in next was out in the next ball edging a faster one from Kumble to give India the victory. Rahul Dravid was chosen as the candidate for both the Man of the Match and the Man of the Series. </p><br>

<p>It was a hard earned victory for India and interestingly not one West Indian batsman got out to deliveries that kept low. Indian bowlers had to stretch themselves to get those 10 wicket taking deliveries. In the end, it was worth it as it was just the 26th Overseas Test win for them! It shouldn’t have been such a tough tour but the Indian batting struggled to get going on many occasions to help West Indies rise from the bottom. India had started the tour with a win in the 1st ODI and they have ended the tour with a win, that’s quite a finish!

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