A tale of missed opportunities

By the time the Indian team went to the Caribbean islands next in 1997, the decline of West Indian cricket was clearly marked. The awesome squad under Clive Lloyd and Vivian Richards had finally broken up and the replacement players proved to be nowhere near as good.

Clear indications of the decline were seen in the West Indies being defeated at home by Australia in early 1995 their first series loss anywhere for 15 years and 29 such contests. It was also the first loss in a home series for the West Indies since 1973 when Ian Chappell's Australians defeated them. Further proof of the falling standards came when they were held to a 2-2 result in a six-Test series in the summer of 1995 in England, a team whom they had meticulously thrashed time and again during their long reign at the top.

Naturally then it was with some hope that India approached the series, notwithstanding their own deplorable record abroad, particularly in the Caribbean. True, they went to the West Indies following a 2-0 loss in a three-Test series in South Africa. But given the disparity in strengths between South Africa and the West Indies, it was reckoned that the Indians had a chance in both the five-match Test series and the four one-day internationals.

When the tour ended in early May, India had lost the Test series 1-0 and the one-day series 3-1. It was a rather disappointing result given the fact that this West Indies side was probably the weakest India had played against in the Caribbean. What was even more shocking was the manner in which India went down in the only Test that ended decisively.

The debacle at Bridgetown is recalled with dismay even today and will undoubtedly be spoken of for many years to come. It was a disaster of the highest order, one that is ranked with other such horrendous setbacks that Indian cricket had suffered earlier. The visitors were set a target of only 120 to win the third Test and yet they collapsed unaccountably for 81. As it happened, it was the only result of the rubber, and so a little bit of application, determination and concentration could well have seen India win their second series in the West Indies.

The knives were out and heads were shaken in disbelief. "I can't believe it," was skipper Sachin Tendulkar's reaction echoing the view of almost everyone else. " When will we get another chance like this," asked the shattered captain, more in anguish than in anger. If ever a victory chance was squandered away, it was this. "I don't know what to say about a team which can't even score 120 runs," said coach Madan Lal, disappointed and furious at the same time.

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The enormity of the Bridgetown debacle was such that it overshadowed everything else in the series. Actually, apart from this one shocking collapse three hours of madness as it was called the Indians did not fare all that badly. They matched the West Indies in the first two Tests and more than held their own in the fourth and fifth games of the series which were affected by rain. Still, the tour did represent a tale of missed opportunities from the Indian viewpoint, especially considering the mediocre opposition. Shivnarine Chanderpaul proved to be a veritable thorn in the flesh and never surrendered his wicket cheaply. He was the logical choice for man of the series. Brian Lara lived up to his reputation, as did Carl Hooper. But the rest of the batting proved to be suspect and it was a pity that the Indian bowlers could not strike consistently.

In this, they were a bit handicapped by the fact that Javagal Srinath was not available for the Tests. The Indian pace spearhead made it to the West Indies but almost at once pulled out as it was discovered that an injured shoulder required immediate treatment. Under the circumstances, Venkatesh Prasad and Abey Kuruvilla were made to toil hard and it must be said that they performed gallantly, particularly the latter, who justified his surprise selection. A lot of course depended on the spinners and both Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi lived up to expectations.

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If the bowlers did reasonably well, given their limitations, the batting could have been better, given its reputation. Rahul Dravid, however, was one batsman who certainly enhanced his reputation. In heading the Test averages at 72.00, Dravid confirmed his growing status in the side and the manner in which he handled the pace quintet of Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose, Ian Bishop, Franklyn Rose and Merv Dillon was an object lesson in technique and temperament.

Tendulkar did not allow the cares of captaincy to interfere with his batting as the final figures of 289 runs from six innings at an average of 57.80 would illustrate. The experienced Navjot Sidhu had one moment of glory, his monumental 201 in the second Test at Port of Spain for which he batted some 12 hours.

The remaining batting, however, was patchy. Venkatsai Laxman, used as an opening batsman could have been more consistent. And the poor form shown by both Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin was quite inexplicable. The left-hander made just 78 runs at an average of 19.50 while the former captain fared even worse, garnering only 63 runs at an average of 12.60. In the ultimate analysis, it was the batting that was the major letdown, symbolized by what happened at Bridgetown.