Return Of The Wall. India beat West Indies by 63 runs, Lead Test Series 1-0

Dravid Sizzles In Indian Victory Against West Indies

He has done it again... The maestro, Rahul Dravid delivered again when it most mattered. I fall short of words to describe the genius he is. Sachin may be adored as the god of cricket by billions of Indians. But sadly in his shadow a great legend is always forgotten. Nevertheless he has always delivered when it matters the most. Dravid hit his 32nd century and boy it will stay memorable forever, the man has class, need I say more. Dravid scored 112 runs of 274 balls in the 2nd innings which included 10 4’s and a six.


India secured a 63-run victory over West Indies on day four of the first cricket test at Sabina Park. Indian pace bowling was spearheaded by Praveen Kumar (3-42 in the 2nd innings), he made his debut in test cricket with this match. He claimed the key wickets of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo in the second innings. West Indies, 131-3 overnight, were bowled out for 262. India scored 246 and 252, while West Indies had managed mere 173 in its first innings.

West Indies Bowled Out on day 4 by India

On day 3 West Indies began their 2nd Innings needing 326 runs to win the game. End of day 3 WI had lost just 3 wickets. WI needed 195 runs when they began their innings on day 4 and still had 7 wickets in hand. I would say they were still comfortably placed; they still had Bravo and Chanderpaul at the wicket when day 4 began. But hats off to Indian bowlers they left no stone unturned to ensure victory in the very first match of the series.


The turning point was when West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul drived a ball off India's Praveen Kumar that was caught by Suresh Raina in the second innings for 30 runs. In the end WI side was bowled out for 262 in their 2nd innings.


With this victory the touring Indian side achieved a unique milestone. This is the first instance of an Indian win in the first Test of a series against West Indies in the Caribbean.


The outstanding performance for the Indian team was that of Rahuld dravid who scored 40 & 112 in the 1st and 2nd innings respectively. Suresh Raina’s 82 and Harbhajan Singh’s 70 runs in 1st innings was commendable. Pravin Kumar and Ishant Sharma picked 6 wickets each in the match (3 each in each of the innings).


For the West Indies Adrian Barath scored a 64 and 38 in the 1st and 2nd innings respectively. That was the best by any WI batsman in the match. Davendra Bishood was pick of the bowlers for West Indies as he took 7 wickets in all during the match.


In the end it was a disastrous start for the West Indies to the 3 test series. Rahul Dravid was honored with the man of the match title for his second-innings century that was instrumental in India’s victory at Kingston.