The West Indies cricket team has arrived in India on a hastily arranged tour, for obvious reasons, that will last for two Tests and three ODIs. As the visitors prepare for the tough challenge, we look back at West Indies’ performance the last time they were here, in 2011-12. The Windies led by Darren Sammy had played three Tests and five ODIs in India during their last visit. India won the Tests 2-0 and the ODIs 4-1. A recap.
1st Test at Delhi: The opening Test of the series was held at Feroz Shah Kotla, and India were victorious in the same by five wickets. Batting first, Windies put up 304 on the board courtesy Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s century. India were cleaned up for 209 in reply, with half-centuries from Sehwag and Dravid. India however pulled things back in the second innings, cleaning up the visitors for 180, Ashwin grabbing six wickets. Set a challenging 276 for victory, India got home with Sehwag making 55, Tendulkar 76 and Laxman contributing an unbeaten 58. Ashwin was named man of the match in his debut Test itself; he picked up nine wickets in all.
2nd Test at Kolkata: Indians just love batting at this venue, and Dravid and Laxman in particular. The duo rekindled memories of 2001as they featured in yet another classy stand, both compiling magnificent centuries. Dravid made 119 while Laxman remained unbeaten on a sublime 176. Skipper Dhoni smashed his way to a 144 lower down the order as India declared at 631 for 7. In reply, West Indies were bowled out for 153, Ojha grabbing four wickets. India made the visitors follow- on, and they battled extremely hard in the second innings. Darren Bravo starred with 136 while Marlon Samuels made 84 as West Indies replied with 463 all out. However, they still lost the Test by an innings and 15 runs.
3rd Test at Mumbai: India had a great chance to clean sweep the series, but couldn’t manage the same. West Indies batted first and notched up a massive 590 – Darren Bravo coming up with a magnificent 166 with great support from the other batsmen. India replied with 482, Ashwin notching up his maiden Test hundred to go with his bagful of wickets in his first Test series. Tendulkar fell short of a ton by six runs while Dravid made 82. India cleaned up the Windies for 134 in their second innings thanks to Ojha’s six-for. But they missed winning the Test by a whisker. Chasing 243, they ended on 242 for 9 after the last ball was bowled.
ODIs: India won the first one-dayer at Cuttack by one wicket, Rohit Sharma starring with 72. In the second game at Visakhapatnam, Kohli’s 117 and Sharma’s unbeaten 90 helped them chase down 270. West Indies hit back at Motera as Ravi Rampaul’s 4 for 57 ensured India could not chase down 261. The hosts dominated the fourth game at Indore, Sehwag smashing a record 219 to lead India to a 153-run win. India made it 4-1 at Chennai as Manoj Tiwary’s 104 helped them to a 34-run triumph. --By A Cricket Analyst
