Indians are kings at Queen's

Day Five

After 26 long years, India finally broke the jinx of not having won a single Test in the West Indies with a 37-run victory in the second Test at the Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. The all-round performance by the Indians erased the ghosts of the Barbados defeat in 1997 when chasing 120 they were bundled out for 81.

As soon Zaheer Khan grabbed the last West Indian wicket, of Cameron Cuffy, India skipper Sourav Ganguly kissed the ground before walking off with the stumps as souvenirs of his first triumph in the West Indies.

Morning session:

When Brian Lara signalled towards the Trini Posse stand asking the live band to stop the music, it described the seriousness of the situation. Lara had just witnessed a ball whiz past his chin, first up from Zaheer Khan, who had opened the bowling with Javagal Srinath on the fifth morning of the second Test at the Queen's Park Oval, with the West Indies chasing 182 for victory.

Srinath, summoning all his stocks of concentration, bowled a tight spell, disallowing any sanctuary to the batsmen to score off him.

Hooper, rocking onto his backfoot, pulled a short delivery from Zaheer to the mid-wicket fence and released the pressure of the morning.

With the breakthrough not forthcoming, Ganguly swapped his bowlers around, replacing Zaheer with Nehra. Immediately, the match turned on its head. After bowling a casual full toss first ball up, which Hooper drove straight down the ground for a boundary; Nehra produced a beauty to dismiss Lara, who till then had played with utmost caution. Letting his concentration waver Lara poked at a ball that pitched outside off and swung just a shade away, taking the edge to Dravid at first slip.

Nehra struck again in the following over when Hooper pulled straight to Das at mid-wicket for 22. The West Indies had lost its main wickets inside three overs and the game had tilted towards India, with the hosts requiring a further 149 runs for victory.

Chris Gayle, who had retired hurt yesterday, walked back in after the fall of Hooper's wicket to join Chanderpaul.

The field placement was a huge disappointment, as skipper Ganguly stayed undecided, defending and attacking at the same time -- a futile exercise given the batsmen at the crease.

Chanderpaul, an accumulator more than a stroke-maker, was happy to saunter through for singles with much time left in the Test and also the fact that the target did not call for any big shots. Gayle, on the other hand, punished the loose balls, thus reducing the target with every hit to the fence.

Gayle pulled Harbhajan Singh to the fence when the offie bowled a full toss on leg with only two fielders posted there. Nehra was also rebuked for bowling a bad delivery which was dispatched to the cover fence. Harbhajan was pulled and driven through the covers for boundaries.

At the fall of the two wickets of Lara and Hooper, the Indians took off the leg-slip and left square-leg unmanned for the left-handed Chanderpaul to take singles in that area at will as he guided the innings through to lunch.

Harbhajan Singh failed to get the breakthrough but the field given to him was more responsible for his failure than anything else, with runs flowing freely through square leg. It seemed that the skipper had missed the point that two fielders could be stationed behind square as the left-handers kept milking the bowlers.

Ganguly missed another bet when Sanjay Bangar was not given a bowl in the second innings. With his ability to bring the ball in to the batsmen, and the track keeping low, he wouldn't have been such a bad choice to bowl.

Ganguly vented his frustration in the midst of the contest when he screamed at Srinath after the bowler had bowled a wide and then overstepped. With the Indian spearhead trying his utmost, it was in bad taste for the skipper to behave in such a brash manner.

The hosts went to lunch with the score on 210 for 4 and the new ball due, since the innings had reached the 80-over mark. The West Indies require another 103 runs to win with six wickets in hand.

Post Lunch session:

Ganguly took the new ball after lunch and for nine overs neither Srinath nor Nehra bowled a single bouncer although they kept an immaculate length around the off-stump. The lone chance of the session came when Gayle edged Srinath and saw the ball fly helplessly pass the vacant third slip for four. The miss asked the question of Ganguly for a defensive field at a time when the visitors were hunting for wickets.

Ganguly this time swapped Nehra for Zaheer and after a wide delivery, first up Zaheer pitched one full outside off, with Gayle pushing at it for Harbhajan, at point, to complete a sharp catch. Gayle's dismissal for 52 broke the fifth-wicket partnership that fetched 73 runs.

The breakthrough had been achieved and West Indies, at 237 for 5, seemed to be floundering in their chase.

Junior Murray walked out into the middle and, with two consecutive ducks, had the crowd roar when he scampered for his first run of the series. But the joy was short-lived as he flicked Srinath, failed to connect well, and had the ball roll over behind the wicket towards the keeper. Murray set off for a non-existent run with non-striker Chanderpaul completely disinterested in the single. Ratra threw the ball to Das, standing up at the stumps, to wipe off the bails and Murray's horrible run with the bat continued as drinks were taken.

Mervyn Dillon, who, had said at the press conference last evening that victory would be a cakewalk for his team without him needing to bat, found Srinath's first delivery after the drinks interval keeping low and breaking his stumps. The three quick wickets with the addition of a single run had shattered all hopes of a West Indian victory. (238-7)

Chanderpaul though, at the other end, seemed unflustered, taking every scoring opportunity to get to his half-century and keeping the West Indies still in the hunt.

Srinath then struck for his third wicket of the innings, when he had Marlon Black fending at a short ball and looping a simple catch to Das at forward short leg. (254-8)

The West Indies stretched the game to the final session's play with a dogged unbeaten innings of 60 from Chanderpaul.

At tea, they were 263 for 8, requiring another 50 runs to win.

Post Tea session:

Nehra struck after the tea break as Sanford inner-edged the ball onto his stumps to knock off the ninth West Indian wicket and push India closer to a famous victory. (263-9)

Chanderpaul then edged Srinath to Ratra, who dived full length to his left and held onto a brilliant one-handed catch. The Indians appealed and umpire Asoka DeSilva summoned the service of the electronic third eye. After an agonizing delay, third umpire Eddie Nicholls ruled in favour of the batsman much to the dismay of Sourav Ganguly, who argued with DeSilva, enquiring about the decision.

After a stubborn 12 run partnership for the tenth-wicket between Chanderpaul and Cameron Cuffy that lasted for almost an hour, Zaheer had Cuffy guide the ball straight to Sanjay Bangar at point for a simple catch.

India had won the Test by 37 runs and gone one-up in the five-Test series.

VVS Laxman, who scored half centuries in both innings, was named man-of-the-match.

It was a rare sight to see a jubilant Indian team collect stumps as souvenirs on Caribbean soil after more than two decades. The entire squad gathered on the field, cheered and hugged each other while reveling in the moment.

Chanderpaul's innings deserves special mention in this famous Indian win for the exceptional temperament he showed during his unbeaten knock of 67. Even though the hosts had lost the match when they lost three quick wickets in the post-lunch session, the doughty left-hander waged a lone battle.

With the maiden win of the series under their belt, India would do well to guard against complacency in the remaining three Tests.

Detailed Scoreboard

Day 4
Day 3
Day 2
Day 1