The one bowler Dravid couldn't master

In a series which had several batting stars, one performer towered over everyone else - Rahul Dravid amassed five scores of more than fifty in seven innings, and ended up with a tremendous average of 82.66. All the West Indian bowlers came off second-best in their battle against Dravid ... except one. Corey Collymore, with his McGrath-esque accuracy and his ability to move the ball both ways off the seam, not only shackled Dravid - allowing just 53 runs from 248 balls, but also dismissed him three times. Against all the other bowlers, though, Dravid was the king.

If Dravid led by example with the bat, the same can hardly be said of his opposite number in the West Indian camp, Brian Lara. Apart from a vital hundred in the second Test in St Lucia which ended up saving the match, Lara had a forgettable series, repeatedly coming off second-best against the main Indian bowlers. Lara's jinx against India continues: he averages only 34.55 in 17 Tests against them, almost 18 runs lower than his career average of 52.

For West Indies, two bowlers were head and shoulders above the rest: Collymore finished with 15 wickets at a superb average of 22.46, while Jerome Taylor, who came into the side in the second Test, took 14 in just three. The table below shows that against the Indian top order, Collymore was more effective: he took 11 such wickets, though Wasim Jaffer and Mohammad Kaif didn't fall to him even once. Check out how he completely shackled VVS Laxman. Taylor was extremely successful against Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, but India's three most experienced batsmen handled him much better.

For India, Kumble was the go-to man, but Sreesanth and Munaf Patel, the two new-ball bowlers, were very impressive as well, and as a threesome, they did an excellent job of keeping the West Indian batsmen in check. If Sreesanth was effective against Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, then Patel kept Ganga in check, while Kumble was especially lethal against Chanderpaul and Bravo.

Footnote
And for those who thought Gayle was a swashbuckling opener and Ganga was dour and strokeless, have a look at these stats: Ganga not only averaged 49.14 in this series, he also scored at 52.04 runs per 100 balls; Gayle, on the other hand, only averaged 34.37, but more surprisingly, had a scoring rate of 51.98.