INDIA v WEST INDIES 1987-88

At Calcutta, December 26, 27, 28, 30, 31. Drawn. A plumb pitch, hard and sparsely grassed, made for little excitement and produced the seventh draw in the last eight Test matches played at Eden Gardens. An aggregate of 1,252 runs in the match included four hundreds and six other scores over 50. On the other hand sixteen wickets fell.

West Indies, who won the toss for the first time in the series, batted for all but 25 minutes of the first two days, generally with little enterprise. Greenidge, who made 141, went to his first 50 off only 62 balls, but needed 176 to reach his fourteenth Test hundred. He faced 265 balls in all and hit five sixes and fourteen fours. Richardson and Richards, who were associated with him in century partnerships for successive wickets, took 130 and 134 balls making 51 and 68 respectively. Logie was more lively, needing only 134 balls for his hundred and hitting fifteen fours. Hooper, playing in only his second Test, batted with enough authority to suggest he could have scored more rapidly if required to do so, but his approach was attuned to the policy of steady accumulation. His maiden Test hundred, on the completion of which Richards declared, included seven fours and three sixes, the last of which was a magnificent drive over extra-cover off Maninder Singh. The Indian out-cricket on the opening day was poor. Significant lapses were Maninder's dropping of Richardson, off his own bowling, when he was 16, and Amarnath's wide throw from mid-on when there was a good chance of running out Greenidge, then 97.

What little pace and bounce there was in the pitch had gone by the time India batted. Arun Lal, whose 93 included thirteen fours, and Amarnath gave the innings a foundation with a second-wicket partnership of 96, and then Vengsarkar hit his second hundred of the series; his seventeenth in Tests and sixth against West Indies. No sooner had he completed it, however, in 332 minutes, with eleven fours, than he was struck on the hand by Davis and had to retire with a fracture. A fourth-wicket stand of 104 between Vengsarkar and Azharuddin, which negotiated the second new ball, had ensured the saving of the follow-on. Azharuddin, when 21, survived an appeal for a catch at second slip, taken low down by Richardson off Walsh, and its rejection led to an altercation between a furious Richards and umpire Reporter.

The Indians, far from being overawed by the size of the West Indies total, treated the bowling on its merit, and only Vengsarkar's innings could be described as staid. Despite the lack of encouragement from the pitch, Walsh bowled with great spirit and stamina for his four wickets. And just when West Indies' attack seemed to be running aground, Davis, during a steady spell delivered off a short run, struck twice in close succession.

Close of play: First day, West Indies 263-2 (C. G. Greenidge 133*, I. V. A. Richards 55*); Second day, India 20-0 (K. Srikkanth 7*, Arun Lal 11*); Third day, India 304-3 (D. B. Vengsarkar 53*, M. Azharuddin 60*); Fourth day, India 521-7 (Arshad Ayub 43*, Chetan Sharma 5*).