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With fortunes fluctuating constantly, India got the better of West Indies in a battle of nerves on the tense fifth and final day of the second cricket Test here yesterday to record their first victory in the Caribbean in 26 years. It was a see-saw battle in which India emerged the victor by 37 runs to go 1-0 up in the five-match series after West Indies faltered in their chase of 313 runs and were out for 275 in their second innings.

It was just the third victory for the Indians on the West Indian soil and all three have come at this venue, the Queen's Park Oval. India won here in 1971 beating West Indies by four wickets in a series that saw the emergence of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, and five years later they did it again, managing to overhaul a target of 404, which remains a world record for the highest successful run-chase for a side batting fourth.

It was another thrilling encounter at the Queen's Park Oval which has earned a reputation for producing results in Test matches. West Indies, who resumed at their overnight 131 for two, looked in total command so long as their best batsmen Brian Lara and skipper Carl Hooper were at the crease.

But the first two overs from Ashish Nehra changed the entire complexion of the game. Nehra dismissed both Lara and Hooper in consecutive overs to shift the balance in India's favour.

However, all was not over for West Indies. The home team, desperately looking for a win after having come into the series with five straight losses, bounced back into contention with a 73-run fifth wicket partnership between Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who remained unbeaten on 67 thanks to a controversial decision by third umpire Eddie Nichols, and Chris Gayle.

Gayle, who had retired hurt on Tuesday after complaining of cramps in his arms, returned to bat today and produced a fine innings of 52 that raised the hopes of West Indies.

Both Gayle and Chanderpaul batted aggressively to take the score to 237 before Zaheer Khan struck to mark another upswing in India's fortunes. Gayle was caught by Harbhajan Singh at point while going for an ambitious drive and that exposed the West Indian tail with 76 runs still needed for a win.

India got three quick wickets after that to reduce West Indies to 254 for eight and make a final dash towards victory. But they had to wait for more than one and a half hour as West Indies made a last ditch effort.

Chanderpaul, who in the meanwhile had reached his half- century, resisted the Indian bowlers stubbornly in the company of Adam Sanford and Cameron Cuffy. Chanderpaul looked to have been caught by wicket-keeper Ajay Ratra off Srinath when the total was 269 for nine but the third umpire, to whom the diving catch was referred, ruled otherwise.

That delayed the Indian celebration by about half an hour. The inevitable Indian victory came when Cuffy gave a catch to Sanjay Bangar at point to give Zaheer Khan his second wicket.

The job looked extremely difficult for India at the start of the day when Lara and Hooper resumed their third wicket partnership. Both the batsmen timed the ball well and looked to be in control even though Lara did play and miss on a couple of occasions.

Conscious of the daunting task ahead, Lara even requested the spectators to stop the music blaring in the stadium, a common practice in the West Indies, so that he could concentrate on the job. But his fluency was lacking and it looked that probably he was trying a bit too hard.

It was Hooper, overnight on one, who did most of the scoring in the early hour. He pulled Zaheer Khan to the long-on fence to bring up the first boundary of the day. A similar shot against Javagal Srinath later landed him in trouble when the miscued hit fell just out of reach Shiv Sunder Das but Hooper remained unfazed. He hit two more fours and looked well settled when disaster struck at the other end.

After being hit for a straight four by Hooper off the first ball he bowled, Nehra managed to induce an edge of Lara's bat that was gleefully accepted by Rahul Dravid in the first slip. Lara could add only seven runs this morning and was out for 47 after batting for 168 minutes.

India could not believe their luck when just an over later Hooper played a rare irresponsible shot to get out for 22. Throwing all caution to wind, Hooper tried to pull an outside-the- off-stump delivery to mid-wicket, only to give an easy catch to Das. West Indies lost their fourth wicket on 164.

With runs coming easily for West Indies, pressure began to show on the Indian bowlers and they erred in line and length making it easy for the batsmen.

West Indies took lunch at 210 for four and the two batsmen continued with their good work in the second session too before Zaheer Khan produced the breakthrough. Gayle, who had batted for more than four hours and hit eight boundaries, tried to drive a fuller delivery outside the off-stump and was caught by Harbhajan Singh.

Junior Murray (1), Mervyn Dillon (0) and Marlon Black (3) did not trouble the Indians much and the visitors inched closer to their historic win. But they were made to work very hard towards the end as Sanford and Cuffy offered dogged resistance. India next play a three-day game against Busta XI before moving to Barbados for the third Test starting on May 2.

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