Done in at the decider

In one of my earlier columns, I had opined that the Indians had a good chance of giving their fans an encore of the glorious West Indies tour of 1971. When they won the Test at Port of Spain, the team looked good to fulfill my prediction, raising hopes of an away series win. But India surrendered the early advantage by losing the Barbados Test and allowing the West Indies to level the series.

Both teams had everything to play for in Jamaica, but if I had to put my money on one of them, it would have been the West Indies, simply because of the home advantage.

The toss was very crucial; it was important that the team winning the toss bowled first to make use of an unusually grassy Kingston wicket. India failed to make use of that advantage and thus allowed the hosts to wrest control of the match right from the first day. I am sure that the West Indian bowlers would have extracted more bounce and pace than the Indians managed on the first day. The Caribbean pace battery is physically strong, a facet that sets them apart from the Indian seamers and allows them to generate more speed off the pitch.

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Harbhajan Singh, however, brought India back into the game after the West Indies looked to dominate the first two days. I must congratulate the off-spinner for picking up his 100th Test wicket. The spongy nature of the track helped Harbhajan extract considerable bounce and turn, but that did not stop the West Indies from racking up a first-innings total of 422 - one that did not show the Indian fast bowlers in good light.

Their Caribbean counterparts, however, made the most of the pitch. The unpredictable bounce also helped to no uncertain extent, playing on the minds of the Indian batsmen and causing them to play with uncertainty. Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman alone looked comfortable. Ganguly was very confident and batted beautifully, while Laxman seems to have finally come to terms with the reputation of being a class player. The Hyderabadi has been much more watchful in this series, selling his wicket dearly.

After having conceded a 210-run first-innings lead, Javagal Srinath & Co. bowled well to restrict the West Indies batsmen to 197 in their second innings. The subsequent target of 408 was a stiff one, but with a strong batting line-up, India were always in with a chance of pulling off a record win. Those chances only got better when Sachin Tendulkar, after the early exit of the openers, began to play with a determination unseen in his previous innings in the series.

Tendulkar had been playing mostly off his front foot for the series up to that point; in Jamaica, though, he was conscious of that fact and appeared keen to get onto his back foot. It was this pre-determined approach that Pedro Collins exploited, sneaking one through to shatter the stumps. I think that Tendulkar picked neither the line nor the movement off the wicket.

Collins, incidentally, should be proud of his achievements in this series. Not often do you find one bowler, especially an inexperienced one, having so much success against the world's best batsman.

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At Sabina Park, the West Indies seemed a much more committed side than India. Two outstanding pieces of work in the field by Merv Dillon and Cameron Cuffy stand out; mind you, both of these bowlers must have been tired after bowling long spells. The wonderful catch that Dillon took, running backwards, to dismiss Laxman, and Cuffy's brilliant work to dismiss Harbhajan Singh say a lot about the attitude and approach that the West Indies brought with them into the decider.

India were also hindered by going into the final Test with just one spinner, a miscalculation in the bowling department that allowed the West Indies to score 287 runs on the first day after asking them to have a bat.

The Indian pace attack looks good to bowl only the first 15 overs and, given this fact, the team management's decision to bowl first must be seen as a defensive one. Even if it was made to allow the track to slow down and help the batsmen, the events narrate a different story. The Indian batting was sub-standard on a track that had already been used for a day and a half.

Not that India did not have their chances. In the second innings, the West Indies were on the mat at 120 for six, but they were then allowed to go on to make 197 and set a target of 408. That was the final nail to be hammered into the coffin.

What sets apart a great team from a good team is how they convert the half-chances and slender opportunities into glorious victories. For the Indians, this was not to be; they surrendered meekly, exposing the limitations of both their batting and their bowling resources.

There cannot be any doubt regarding the talent and stature of a few individuals in the Indian team. But then again, the overall strength of the Indian team does not pose a threat to the opponents, and that, I think, is the biggest drawback of this Indian side.

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