By the time the Indian team went to the Caribbean islands next in1997, the decline of West Indian cricket was clearly marked
Partab Ramchand22-May-2002By the time the Indian team went to the Caribbean islands next in1997, the decline of West Indian cricket was clearly marked. Theawesome squad under Clive Lloyd and Vivian Richards had finallybroken up and the replacement players proved to be nowhere nearas good.Clear indications of the decline were seen in the West Indiesbeing defeated at home by Australia in early 1995 their firstseries loss anywhere for 15 years and 29 such contests. It wasalso the first loss in a home series for the West Indies since1973 when Ian Chappell’s Australians defeated them. Further proofof the falling standards came when they were held to a 2-2 resultin a six-Test series in the summer of 1995 in England, a teamwhom they had meticulously thrashed time and again during theirlong reign at the top.Naturally then it was with some hope that India approached theseries, notwithstanding their own deplorable record abroad,particularly in the Caribbean. True, they went to the West Indiesfollowing a 2-0 loss in a three-Test series in South Africa. Butgiven the disparity in strengths between South Africa and theWest Indies, it was reckoned that the Indians had a chance inboth the five-match Test series and the four one-dayinternationals.When the tour ended in early May, India had lost the Test series1-0 and the one-day series 3-1. It was a rather disappointingresult given the fact that this West Indies side was probably theweakest India had played against in the Caribbean. What was evenmore shocking was the manner in which India went down in the onlyTest that ended decisively.The debacle at Bridgetown is recalled with dismay even today andwill undoubtedly be spoken of for many years to come. It was adisaster of the highest order, one that is ranked with other suchhorrendous setbacks that Indian cricket had suffered earlier. Thevisitors were set a target of only 120 to win the third Test andyet they collapsed unaccountably for 81. As it happened, it wasthe only result of the rubber, and so a little bit ofapplication, determination and concentration could well have seenIndia win their second series in the West Indies.The knives were out and heads were shaken in disbelief. "I can’tbelieve it," was skipper Sachin Tendulkar’s reaction echoing theview of almost everyone else. " When will we get another chancelike this," asked the shattered captain, more in anguish than inanger. If ever a victory chance was squandered away, it was this."I don’t know what to say about a team which can’t even score120 runs," said coach Madan Lal, disappointed and furious at thesame time.
© CricInfoThe enormity of the Bridgetown debacle was such that itovershadowed everything else in the series. Actually, apart fromthis one shocking collapse three hours of madness as it wascalled the Indians did not fare all that badly. They matched theWest Indies in the first two Tests and more than held their ownin the fourth and fifth games of the series which were affectedby rain. Still, the tour did represent a tale of missedopportunities from the Indian viewpoint, especially consideringthe mediocre opposition. Shivnarine Chanderpaul proved to be averitable thorn in the flesh and never surrendered his wicketcheaply. He was the logical choice for man of the series. BrianLara lived up to his reputation, as did Carl Hooper. But the restof the batting proved to be suspect and it was a pity that theIndian bowlers could not strike consistently.In this, they were a bit handicapped by the fact that JavagalSrinath was not available for the Tests. The Indian pacespearhead made it to the West Indies but almost at once pulledout as it was discovered that an injured shoulder requiredimmediate treatment. Under the circumstances, Venkatesh Prasadand Abey Kuruvilla were made to toil hard and it must be saidthat they performed gallantly, particularly the latter, whojustified his surprise selection. A lot of course depended on thespinners and both Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi lived up toexpectations.
© CricInfoIf the bowlers did reasonably well, given their limitations, thebatting could have been better, given its reputation. RahulDravid, however, was one batsman who certainly enhanced hisreputation. In heading the Test averages at 72.00, Dravidconfirmed his growing status in the side and the manner in whichhe handled the pace quintet of Courtney Walsh, Curtley Ambrose,Ian Bishop, Franklyn Rose and Merv Dillon was an object lesson intechnique and temperament.Tendulkar did not allow the cares of captaincy to interfere withhis batting as the final figures of 289 runs from six innings atan average of 57.80 would illustrate. The experienced NavjotSidhu had one moment of glory, his monumental 201 in the secondTest at Port of Spain for which he batted some 12 hours.The remaining batting, however, was patchy. Venkatsai Laxman,used as an opening batsman could have been more consistent. Andthe poor form shown by both Sourav Ganguly and MohammadAzharuddin was quite inexplicable. The left-hander made just 78runs at an average of 19.50 while the former captain fared evenworse, garnering only 63 runs at an average of 12.60. In theultimate analysis, it was the batting that was the major letdown,symbolized by what happened at Bridgetown.