India v West Indies by the Numbers

The upcoming Test series between India and the West Indies in India is evoking a considerable amount of interest in the Caribbean for several reasons most notably that the West Indies team to India will be the most inexperienced in any decades. Of the current player, only the captain Carl Hooper with six Tests and Shiv Chanderpaul with a single Test have toured India before.

West Indies first played India in 1948-49 when John Goddard's West Indies team toured India. Goddard's team included the incomparable George Headley who only played one match, the most successful WI opening pair after Greenidge & Haynes - Alan Rae & Jeff Stollmeyer; an embryonic three W's - Clyde Walcott & Everton Weekes; the middle order of Robert Christiani, George Carew, & Gerry Gomez and the bowling attack of Francis Cameron, Prior Jones, John Trim, Denis Atkinson and Wilfred Ferguson.

The Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi staged its first Test when Goddard?s team played against the Indian side lead by ?Lala? Amarnath. The very first innings of the first Test was an imposing 631 all out with centuries by Walcott, Weekes, Gomez & Christiani. That 1948-49 series was notable for Sir Everton Weekes? run feast: a consecutive scores of 128, 194, 162, 101, 90 run out, 54 & 48, the last two centuries were in the same match, all together 779 runs at a lordly average of 111.29.

In 1958-59, West Indies swept through their tour of the sub-continent with an avalanche of runs like never before. The late 1950?s marks the end of the three W?s and the emergence of the brilliantly gifted Garry Sobers & Rohan Kanhai, the hitherto-unknown middle order batsmen, Basil Butcher & Joe Solomon, and the two fearsome opening bowlers, Roy Gilchrist & Wes Hall. Rohan Kanhai made a glorious 256 at Delhi, the highest Test match innings on Indian soil, (a score that VVS Laxman has since bettered with 281 v Aus in 2000) and helped inflict a massive innings and 336 run defeat for India. In the same match, West Indies? made the highest total and ground record in Delhi of 644-8d in India.

In 1966-67, West Indies had a great fast-bowling team of Wes Hall & Charlie Griffith. Individually only the genius and versatility of Garry Sobers, along with Lance Gibbs and Jackie Hendriks performed to the high standards expected of this West Indian team. India found to their peril Sobers, ruthless and devastating despite coming out to bat as low as number seven. Sobers took two wickets with his quicker bowling and 12 as a slow bowler, changing from wrist spin to orthodox as the situation demanded. This tour also marked the arrival of two players: a bespectacled Clive Lloyd, who was hitting the ball off the back foot with unbelievable power and who was an outstanding fielder in the deep; and Lance Gibbs who had 27 wickets, including 18 in three Tests.

The West Indies? fourth tour of the Indian sub-continent in 1974-75 was remarkable for two facts: every member of the touring party made a mark -- except for Lawrence ?Yagga? Rowe, who suddenly developed eye trouble and went home after only two matches. Also,every Test match of a series in India produced a definite result with the fifth Test starting against the background of India having levelled the rubber after being overwhelmed in the first two Tests. The tour was also notable for the emergence of players who would later to become the nucleus of the all-conquering West Indies side of the late 1970?s to 1980?s: Richards, Greenidge & Roberts. Lloyd topped the batting aggregates and average for the whole tour. There was the superb batsmanship of Alvin Kallicharran especially on the two most awkward pitches which West Indies encountered -- a century amid collapse in the first Test on a rain-affected pitch and a 51 with an impressive exhibiton of technique in the fourth Test, at Madras where the next highest score was 19.

The tour marked the beginning of the end for Rowe and the arrival of the greatest batsman of his generation and probably the greatest since Don Bradman: Vivian Richards. After two failures in the first Test, Richards played a match-winning innings of 192 not out in the second Test against high-class spin of Prasanna & Bedi.

The 1978-79 series was notable for having only one result out of six matches and the absence of the majority of West Indies? best players who opted to play in Packer?s World Series Cricket (WSC) cricket in Australia. This was the only series that West Indies ever lost in India. West Indies relied heavily on their captain Alvin Kallicharran, who amassed 538 runs; Bacchus with 472 runs, including a 250; and Gomes with 405 runs. For India, Sunil Gavaskar aggregated 732 runs, with four centuries including a double-century. The tour was notable for the emergence of a youthful Malcolm Marshall, who played only one first-class match before going on tour.

The 1980?s was the era when West Indies dominate world cricket as never before. So, it came as no surprise West Indies went through the 1983-84 series with little challenge to their authority. They won the six-Test series three-nil and made a clean sweep of the five one-day internationals. For the second consecutive series, Clive Lloyd has the highest run aggregate. It was the fast bowling that easily gained West Indies their Test victories so comfortably: Malcolm Marshall with a record equalling 33 wickets, Michael Holding and Andy Roberts. Wayne Daniel & Winston Davis also contributed to the series win by West Indies.

The dominance of the fast bowlers left only limited scope for Roger Harper, a specialist off-spinner and brilliant fielder. Sunil Gavaskar, batting at No. 4, made 236 not out in the final Test, his 30th century in Test cricket, which took him past Sir Donald Bradman?s record. Of the India bowlers, only Kapil Dev shone, with a record 29 wickets.

While the West Indies side of 1987-88 were not the side they once were, they were still distinctly superior to the Indian side, although a 1-1 result is not an appropriate reflection of their quality and ability. The First Test was enlivened by the conditions on the first day and by the inept batting of both sides, who were each dismissed for their lowest totals against each other (127 for WI and 75 for India).

Viv Richards held the balance in this match with a solid innings that yielded his only century of the rubber. All four fast bowlers played by West Indies in this match excelled. The weather had intervened in the second Test, and it was petering out before it was brought to life by fierce bowling from Patrick Patterson. After Patterson sustained an injury, Courtney Walsh emerged as the outstanding bowler with 26 wickets in the series at under 17 runs each. Four hundreds and six other scores of 50 were scored in the Third Test, including a maiden Test century from Carl Hooper. Nineteen year old leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani, on debut, spun a web around the West Indies batting, taking sixteen wickets in the process, and Kapil Dev scored a magnificent century contributing to an Indian win.

West Indies was in doubt for their 1994-95 tour of India after an outbreak of pneumonic plague in the western state of Gujarat. Eventually, the West Indies team arrived a week late. This series was notable for the great escape trick performed by Courtney Walsh?s side after having gone one down in the First Test at Mumbai, drawn the Second Test at Nagpur, and level the series on the very the last day of the tour.

West Indies were without Ritchie Richardson who was suffering from exhaustion, Desmond Haynes who chose to play in the South Africa domestic season after an acrimonious misunderstanding over the captaincy issue, Curtly Ambrose with a shoulder injury and Winston Benjamin who was suspended over an off-field incident early that year.

Jimmy Adams made the 1994-95 series his own, topping the batting aggregate with 520 runs for an astounding average of 173.33. This was also the series that Adams got tagged with the nickname, ?Padams?, because of his prosperity for studious pad-play. Kenny Benjamin and Courtney Walsh swept aside the Indian batting on the final day of the final Test and help draw the series level. The pair carried the pace attack throughout the series and finished it with 17 wickets apiece. Bouncing back to win by 243 runs did Walsh and his team great credit, and earned them the Fatesinhrao Gaekwad Trophy.

West Indies in India - Statistics:

Of the 37 matches played in India, West Indies won 14, drew 17 and lost only 2 Tests.

Series-----Matches---Result
1948-49----5--------WI won 1-0
1958-59----5--------WI won 3-0
1966-67----3--------WI won 2-0
1974-75----5--------WI won 3-2
1978-79----6--------Ind won 1-0
1983-84----6--------WI won 3-0
1987-88----4--------Drawn 1-1
1994-95----3--------Drawn 1-1

Highest Inns Totals:
West Indies:
in WI----631-8d---Kingston-------1961-62
in Ind---644-8d---Delhi----------1958-59

India:
in WI----469-7d---Port-of-Spain---1982-83
in Ind---644-7d---Kanpur----------1978-79

Lowest Inns Totals:
West Indies:
in WI----140------Bridgetown------1996-97
in Ind---127------Delhi-----------1987-88

India:
in WI----81-------Bridgetown------1996-97
in Ind---75-------Delhi-----------1987-88

Individual Hundreds:
West Indies: Total 90
Eight: GS Sobers,IVA Richards
Seven: ED Weekes, CH Lloyd
Five: CG Greenidge
Four: CL Walcott, RB Kanhai, S Chanderpaul, CL Hooper
Three: AI Kallicharran
Two: JC Adams, BF Butcher, CA Davis, RC Fredericks, DL Haynes, AL Logie, AF Rae, RB Richardson
One: SFAF Bacchus, RJ Christiani, PJL Dujon, HA Gomes, GE Gomez, WW Hinds, JK Holt, CC Hunte, RD Jacob, BC Lara, EDA McMorris, BH Pairaudeau, OG Smith, JS Solomon, JB Stollmeyer, AB Williams, SC Williams, FMM Worrell

India: Total 63
Thirteen: SM Gavaskar
Six: DB Vengsarkar
Four: GR Viswanath
Three: M Amarnath, CG Borde, Kapil Dev, DN Sardesai, NS Sidhu, PR Umrigar
Two: VS Hazare, RJ Shastri, SR Tendulkar
One: HR Adhikari, ML Apte, RS Dravid, SA Durani, FM Engineer, AD Gaekwad, VVS Laxman, SV Manjrekar, VL Manjrekar, RS Modi, Mushtaq Ali, BP Patel, M Prabhakar, A Ratra, Pankaj Roy, ED Solkar

WI Test Centuries in India:
256----RB Kanhai-------Calcutta---1958-59
250----SFAF Bacchus----Kanpur-----1978-79
242*---CH Lloyd--------Mumbai-----1974-75
198----GS Sobers-------Kanpur-----1958-59
194----EdeC Weekes-----Mumbai-----1948-49
194----CG Greenidge----Kanpur-----1983-84
192*---IVA Richards----Delhi------1974-75
187----AI Kallicharran-Mumbai-----1978-79
174*---JC Adams--------Mohali-----1994-95
163----CH Lloyd--------Bangalore--1974-75
162----EdeC Weekes-----Calcutta---1948-49
161*---CH Lloyd--------Calcutta---1983-84
160----JB Stollmeyer---Madras-----1948-49
152----CL Walcott------Delhi------1948-49
142*---GS Sobers-------Mumbai-----1958-59
142----BF Butcher------Madras-----1958-59
141----CG Greenide-----Calcutta---1987-88
128----EdeC Weekes-----Delhi------1948-49
125*---JC Adams--------Nagpur-----1994-95
124----AI Kallicharran-Bangalore--1974-75
123----JK Holt---------Delhi------1958-59
120----IVA RIchards----Mumbai-----1983-84
111----AB Williams-----Calcutta---1978-79
109*---IVA Richards----Delhi------1987-88
109----AF Rae----------Madras-----1948-49
108----CL Walcott------Calcutta---1948-49
107----RJ Christiani---Delhi------1948-49
107----CG Greenidge----Bangalore--1974-75
106*---GS Sobers-------Calcutta---1958-59
104----AF Rae----------Mumbai-----1948-49
104----RC Fredericks---Mumbai-----1974-75
103----BF Butcher------Calcutta---1958-59
103----CH Lloyd--------Delhi------1983-84
101----GE Gomez--------Delhi------1948-49
101----EdeC Weekes-----Calcutta---1948-49
101----CC Hunte--------Mumbai-----1966-67
101----AL Logie--------Calcutta---1987-88
100*---JS Solomon------Delhi------1958-59
100*---CL Hooper-------Calcutta---1987-88
100----OG Smith--------Delhi------1958-59
100----RC Fredericks---Calcutta---1974-75

Ten Wickets or More in a Match:
West Indies:
11-126 (6-50 & 5-76) -- WW Hall -- Kanpur 1958-59
11-89 (5-34 & 6-55) -- MD Marshall -- Port-of-Spain 1988-89
12-121 (7-64 & 5-57) -- AME Roberts -- Madras 1974-75
10-101 (6-62 & 4-39) -- CA Walsh -- Kingston 1988-89

India:
11-235 (7-157 & 4-78) -- BS Chandraseakar -- Mumbai 1966-67
10-223 (9-102 & 1-121) -- SP Gupte -- Kanpur 1958-59
16-136 (8-61 & 8-75) -- ND Hirwani -- Madras 1987-88
10-135 (1-52 & 9-83) -- Kapil Dev -- Ahmedabad 1983-84