Big Win in Sight For Windies

The Barbados curse struck India again, after playing hide-and-seek earlier in the day. In a devastating period of play after tea, West Indies grabbed four wickets for 38 runs, including Sachin Tendulkar (18)and Rahul Dravid (14) in two overs. A rare 80-run opening partnership lay wasted and India looked in a hurry to lose its seventh test in Barbados with a day to spare.

It didn?t look quite so bad in the morning, when West Indies lost their last six first-innings wickets for 18 runs. Then Wasim Jaffer and SS Das laid the foundation of what appeared to augur for a spirited Indian fightback.

Jaffer led the way, hitting up a stroke-filled 51 in the post-lunch session. He was imperious off the back foot, standing up tall and spanking the bowling in the arc between extra-cover and backward-of-point. A powerful punch through cover off Pedro Collins took him to his highest score in Tests - ahead of the 23 he made against South Africa in 2000. He smashed ten boundaries in all, most of them breathtakingly beautiful, reminding one of VVS Laxman at his elegant best.

The partnership ended with a run-out before tea as Das pushed Cameron Cuffy straight to Shivnarine Chanderpaul at point, took off for a single and Jaffer failed to beat the throw (80 for 1). With Rahul Dravid at the crease and looking in no hurry, the game seemed to be in a late afternoon snooze, until West Indies broke through and a familiar story unfolded.

Das flicked Mervyn Dillon ferociously towards the midwicket fence, but Ramnaresh Sarwan was in the way at forward short leg. The ball crashed into his stomach and, incredibly, stuck (101 for 2). The crowd roared, and India was two down, against the run of play. Das had played scrappily and had enjoyed quite a few strokes of luck during his struggling 138-ball vigil at the crease, even being dropped once by Stuart Williams off the bowling of Mervyn Dillon; the luck ran out.

Sachin Tendulkar came in, and scored for the first time in three Test innings, clipping Dillon to midwicket for two off the second ball he faced. India?s two best batsmen were now at the crease. Then the Barbados curse struck in the 47th and 48th over of the innings as Tendulkar and Dravid both fell within a run of each other. Hopes of a fifth day?s play rapidly vanished like rum in Trini Posse hands.

Dravid was the first to go, for 14, reaching out to drive a sucker ball outside off from Adam Sanford. A diving Ridley Jacobs took the edge low in front of Brian Lara at first slip (117 for 3). Bigger disaster struck India in the next over as umpire Asoka de Silva ruled Tendulkar out lbw to the second ball of Dillon?s 17th over (118 for 4). There was an element of doubt about whether the incoming ball would have passed over Tendulkar?s stumps. De Silva though had no doubts, instantly raising his index finger.

With that double blow, West Indies had effectively erased embarrassing pre-lunch memories when it had seemed that a traffic policemen might be needed to direct rapid movement to and from the West Indian dressing room. The last four wickets added 2 runs as West Indies imploded from 376 for 4 to 394 all out. It included three ducks, a missed Harbhajan hat trick, the on-going curse of the wicketkeeper curse (Ridley Jacobs suffered a duck on his comeback.) and a hilarious Cameroon Cuffy (1), run out when he dived desperately in the middle of the pitch while Ajay Ratra removed the bails to end the innings. Cuffy had his revenge later with the ball, bowling an amazing spell that read 18-15-3-0.

Carl Hooper (115) had begun the West Indian slide after completing his first-ever hundred at the Kensington Oval. He mishit an attempted hoick off Harbhajan Singh. The resulting skier went high to the mid-off region, where Sachin Tendulkar took a nice tumbling catch (376 for 5).

His 216-run partnership with Shivnarine Chanderpaul for the fifth wicket had appeared indestructible. They had won the crucial first hour for West Indies, remaining together at the first drinks interval. They had threatened to cut loose thereafter, particularly Hooper, who had smashed three boundaries to bring up his hundred in Ashish Nehra?s first over of the day.

Thereafter, recent history repeated itself but not before Chanderpaul (101*) managed to reach his second hundred of the series even as his batting partners were changing with bewildering rapidity. Harbhajan Singh finshed with 3 for 85, which should boost his morale somewhat. That?s more than what can be said for India?s over-hyped batting strength.

* SOURCE: WISDEN ONLINE.