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India wrap up Chennai Test and series

Faisal Shariff

India vs West Indies: 2nd Test: Day 4 Chennai, India

Scorecard Stats: Day 3

India lost openers Virender Sehwag and Sanjay Bangar while chasing the 81 runs required to win the second Test and the series against the West Indies on Sunday, in Chennai. In the end, it was an easy eight-wicket win for the hosts.

Sehwag walked out after lunch and launched into his patent attacking mode, sensing the threat of rain delaying India's victory march. Hitting a couple of sixes and boundaries, he reduced the margin before an arm ball from Carl Hooper saw him stumped for a 30-ball 33.

Bangar followed soon after, beaten by the exaggerated bounce from a Hooper delivery and edging a catch to Chris Gayle at first slip.

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid guided India to the target as India won its first Test series against the West Indies in a decade.

The lower-order contributions from Harbhajan Singh, Parthiv Patel and Javagal Srinath in the first innings made the difference in the low-scoring game. The 100 runs they helped add to the total were crucial in the final analysis. Having to chase 181 instead of 81 while batting last would have made for an interesting chase.

Morning session:

At 22, he is still learning his trade, and yet what he possessed was sufficient to flummox the West Indian batsmen.

Harbhajan Singh's windmill action complimented by Zaheer Khan's late swing blew the West Indies resistance to pieces.

It took a single Harbhajan over to mop the lower order after Zaheer precipitated the collapse, trapping Ramnaresh Sarwan in front for the first breakthrough of the morning.

Play began under overcast conditions, forcing the lights to be switched on yet again. Sourav Ganguly surprisingly started the day's proceedings with Kumble and Harbhajan, hoping to get overnight batsmen Sarwan, who was growing in confidence, early. The conditions, however, asked for a seamer to have a crack at the batsmen -- a fact that was realised when Khan got three of the six wickets that fell in the morning session.

Sarwan though played with composure beyond his years. Decisive with his footwork and severe on anything pitched short, the Guyanese controlled the initial hour of the morning admirably, advising Ryan Hinds at the other end to eschew high-risk strokes.

Ganguly tossed the ball to Zaheer to get him the breakthrough and the left-arm seamer duly obliged, trapping Sarwan in front with one that pitched in line with the leg-stump and straightened. The young Guyanese yet again failed to convert a fifty into a century.

Sarwan has admitted that the problem has been a combination of shot selection and momentary loss of concentration. With 14 half-centuries in 26 Tests, a century still remains hard to get hold of for him.

Having got Sarwan, the Indians sniffed an early finish and Harbhajan did the rest.

Hinds, who had batted sedately for his 77-ball 7 shaped to play the offie on the on side against the turn and offered the simplest of catches to Kumble at mid-off. (210-6)

Off the very next ball Harbhajan surprised Gareth Breese with one that kicked at him and took an edge off his bat into the hands of Ganguly at leg slip. (210-7)

Mervyn Dillon negotiated the hat-trick ball and slog-swept the next one for four. A glaring umpiring error by Lankan Asoka DeSilva saw Dillon dismissed in the same over of a yorker that hit the bat on to the toe. The umpire, however, thought otherwise and Dillon was on his way. (214-8)

India were on a roll as Parthiv Patel brought off a great low-catch, diving to his left. The left-handed Ridley Jacobs nicked a delivery from Zaheer that flew low to the left of Patel, who caught it at bootlace height.

The 17-year-old keeper has been a revelation in his brief stint in Tests. He has all the makings for a successful keeper; well balanced and lithe, he is quick to start and injects life into his mates during periods of inertia.

Pedro Collins hit a ball high on the leg side as Ganguly and Kumble darted in the direction of the ball. Both missed the ball and collided with Kumble's right leg slamming into Ganguly's groin. The skipper took a tumble and had to be carried away on a stretcher. An acute back sprain put Ganguly under observation.

Zaheer claimed his third wicket of the morning session, yorking Collins with a beautiful away swinger. The West Indies had lost their last six wickets for 21 runs; a drop from the first innings when they lost their last six for 32 runs.

Harbhajan finished with 4-79, Zaheer picked 3-23 and Srinath 2-16. Kumble picked a single wicket to take his tally for the match to six. On a wicket that was supposed to assist spin, the Indians seamers gave a lesson to the West Indian seam attack on bowling in the sub-continent.