|
India’s dream of a series win outside the sub-continent lay in tatters with their batsmen proving unequal to the task of chasing an imposing total in the series-deciding fifth and final cricket Test against the West Indies here. The match was practically over for the Indians who were 237 for seven at close on the fourth day yesterday while chasing 408 for victory. With 171 more required to win, India only have the tailenders to battle it out. Ajay Ratra and Zaheer Khan were at the crease, on 16 and four respectively, while Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra were to follow.
With one full day’s play left, it seems only the rain gods can prevent India from losing the match and the series 1-2. India bowled out West Indies for 197 in their second innings earlier in the day, but the 210-run first innings lead ensured that the hosts had set a target that had never been successfully chased before.
And India never really looked headed for rewriting the record-books except for a brief period when Sachin Tendulkar was at the crease. Tendulkar produced a brilliant 86 with 13 fours and added 52 for the third wicket with Rahul Dravid and 93 for the fourth with Sourav Ganguly to keep India in the hunt after the openers had been dismissed cheaply.
In the process, he also became only the second Indian and 10th in the world to score more than 8,000 runs in Test cricket. He reached the milestone when he moved to 82 with his 12th boundary. Sunil Gavaskar, with 10,122 runs, is the other Indian to have scored more in Test matches.
Once he was out, clean bowled by Pedro Collins with a delivery that kept a bit low, the Indian challenge fizzled out with the last two recognised batsmen, Ganguly and V V S Laxman, too getting out without making much impression to leave India in deep trouble at 209 for six.
This was the third time in last five innings that Tendulkar was out to Collins. The left-hand seamer, who came into the West Indian side in the third Test, also dismissed the master batsman in the first innings of the Barbados Test and the only innings in the fourth Test at Antigua, both times for a
nought.
It capped a wonderful day for Collins who finished with figures of three for 48 after dismissing both the Indian openers. Earlier in the day, he also had a good run with the bat, frustrating the Indians with his career-best 24. Gloom descended over the Indian dressing room while the West Indian fielders and the crowd rejoiced at the dismissal of Tendulkar who appeared in a punishing mood yesterday.
Coming in at 25 for two, Tendulkar had a watchful start as his partner Dravid played a few attractive shots and looked in good touch. Dravid hit Collins for three boundaries in an over and then pulled the bowler imperiously to the mid-wicket fence to quickly move into his 20s.
India took lunch at 57 for two, but immediately thereafter lost Dravid who fell leg before wicket for the second time in the match. One of the success stories on this tour, Dravid made only 30 off 58 balls with six fours and his dismissal was a big blow to India’s chances.
But the post lunch session also saw Tendulkar adopting a much more positive approach as he produced a series of cracking shots all over the ground and never allowed the home team to build up pressure. It was only due to his attacking batsmanship that India were able to score 109 runs from the 31 overs bowled in the second session and acquired a semblance of strength, having reached 166 for three at tea.
But Tendulkar could add only four more runs after the tea break before his 139-ball knock was brought to an end by Collins. Six runs later, Ganguly also fell. The skipper, who had batted patiently for nearly two hours for his 28, tried to hook Adam Sanford but couldn’t control the shot and was caught by Ramnaresh Sarwan at square leg.
India’s last hope, Laxman was out to a spectacular catch by Mervyn Dillon after making 23 runs. He tried to pull Sanford, a shot he plays really well, but miscued it and Dillon brought about a fine effort running backwards.
That put paid to India’s hopes of repeating their feat of 1976 when they made 406 in the fourth innings to win the Port of Spain Test against the West Indies. That remains the highest successful run-chase for a team batting fourth.
Australia are the only other team to have scored more than 400 in the fourth innings to win a match when they scored 404 for three against England at Leeds in 1948. India’s openers failed to give the kind of start required to chase such a huge total with both Shiv Sunder Das and Wasim Jaffer back in pavilion when only 25 runs had been scored.
Jaffer made a firm push against Collins and was surprised to see the ball getting stuck in the hands of Wavell Hinds at forward short leg. Jaffer managed only seven runs and failed for the second time in the match. Six runs later, Das fell leg before wicket to Collins after making ten runs. This completed a miserable tour for the diminutive Orissa opener who scored only 124 runs in the five Tests in this series.
Earlier in the West Indian second innings, India earned a surprise early breakthrough with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the most consistent batsman for the home team, giving a tame return catch to Zaheer Khan after adding only four runs to his overnight 55. But Collins frustrated the Indian attack for about 45 minutes with his defying knock in the company of Adam Sanford. Collins was finally bowled by Harbhajan Singh to give him the third wicket of the innings and eighth of the match.
Zaheer Khan was the most successful Indian bowler with four wickets for 79 but his maiden five-wicket haul once again eluded him.
|
