West Indies v India in West Indies, 2011

Test matches (3): West Indies 0, India 1
One-day internationals (5): West Indies 2, India 3
Twenty20 international (1): West Indies 0, India 1

	India proved superior to a West Indian team still struggling to transcend its lowly status © AFP Enlarge
Related Links Series/Tournaments: India tour of West Indies Teams: India | West Indies

For their first full tour of the West Indies in five years, and their first series under new coach Duncan Fletcher, India brought squads depleted by injuries and exhaustion after an arduous schedule over the previous nine months. In that time, eight Tests and 11 one-day internationals - excluding two abandonments - in three separate series had been followed by their emotion- sapping World Cup triumph, then by the seven-week marathon of the Indian Premier League. The Caribbean assignment, against opponents entrenched near the bottom of the ICC rankings, preceded a tour of England that would ultimately cost them their No. 1 Test status. And it was the absence from this trip of several senior players that was used as one of the sticks with which to beat the Indians for their subsequent failures in England.

Despite the incentive of being just one away from his 100th international hundred, Sachin Tendulkar was granted time off to be with his family and rest for the tougher task ahead. India's two high-quality openers, Gautam Gambhir - originally chosen as captain for the limited-overs series - and Virender Sehwag, were both eliminated by shoulder damage; controversially, both had managed to play in the IPL, which finished only a week before the Twenty20 international in Trinidad. Yuvraj Singh was ruled out by what was later diagnosed as a benign lung tumour, Zaheer Khan by an ankle injury, and Sreesanth by a sore elbow. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain, missed the 50- over series. It was curious preparation for England.

Even so, India proved superior to a West Indian team still struggling to transcend its lowly status. They won the solitary Twenty20 international, prevailed 3-2 in the one-day series and, after a hard-fought victory in the First Test in Jamaica, might have completed a clean sweep but for the weather in the Second and a strangely negative attitude in the Third.

If not as numerically weakened as India, West Indies - as they had been for Pakistan's visit - were without Chris Gayle, their one batsman capable of changing a game in a session. His dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board, triggered by coach Ottis Gibson's criticism of the senior players after the World Cup and Gayle's enraged response in a radio interview, simply dragged on: Gayle was told he would not be considered for selection unless he withdrew his derogatory comments; he refused, saying he had nothing to apologise for. West Indies also lost the experience of Ramnaresh Sarwan and the doggedness of Brendan Nash, both dropped after poor form.

The tour was an opportunity for the replacements on each side to make their case. Few did. Most of the dominant names were well known: for India, Rahul Dravid, V. V. S. Laxman, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma; for West Indies, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Fidel Edwards. But a couple of newcomers did make a mark. Praveen Kumar's probing swing was the ideal foil for Sharma's aggressive pace; and Kirk Edwards, a tall right-hander and West Indies' latest No. 3, marked the inaugural Test at Windsor Park in Dominica with a composed debut hundred that set the course for a draw.

The young Indian batsmen, meanwhile, faltered on the unfamiliar, bouncy pitches in Kingston and Bridgetown. The left-handed opener Abhinav Mukund averaged less than 25, Virat Kohli - in contrast to his one-day consistency - and Murali Vijay both under 20. The leg-spinner Amit Mishra, a one-day match-winner, was omitted after making little impression in the First Test. It was left to the tried and trusted Dravid and Laxman, plus Raina - a failure in the limited-overs games - to shore up the Test batting. Dravid's decisive 112 in the second innings at Sabina Park was India's only hundred, while Laxman overcame a shaky start to make successive scores of 85, 87 and 56. Raina twice helped pull India out of a hole, adding 146 with the swashbuckling Harbhajan Singh at Kingston, then 117 with Laxman at Bridgetown.

Gayle's absence gave Adrian Barath, returning after another injury, and Lendl Simmons the chance to become West Indies' settled opening pair. They didn't take it, and Simmons made way after the Second Test for Kieran Powell, a left-hander from Nevis. While Chanderpaul laboured eight and a half hours over his critical unbeaten 116 in the final Test (his 133rd, surpassing Courtney Walsh as West Indies' most-capped player), strokemakers Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels, back after a two-year suspension for alleged involvement with an Indian bookmaker, supplied rather more style than substance.

India's 347 and West Indies' 322, both in Dominica, were the only totals above 300 in the series, a reflection of the nature of the pitches and the teams' strengths. As if to underline the point, the highest in the five-match one-day series was 255, by West Indies in Jamaica.

Both sides were buoyed by the pace and penetration of their attack spearheads. Encouraged by the unusually spicy pitches, Sharma and Fidel Edwards were constant threats. Having failed to take more than nine wickets in a Test series since claiming 15 against Australia in 2008-09, Sharma was more his old self, exploiting his height and earning the series award for his 22 victims at 16. Edwards, after a break of two years between Tests, during which he underwent surgery for a slipped disc, made a triumphant return. Swinging the ball at pace, he finished with 19 wickets at 20.

On India's adamant objection, the Decision Review System was not used. Yet Dhoni and his players placed such pressure on the Australian umpire Daryl Harper in the First Test - for decisions they were convinced went against them - that he opted out of the Third. That would have been his farewell match after a career of 95 Tests over 13 years. Instead, he departed with a broadside at both the Indian team and the ICC for its lack of support.

Match reports for

Only T20I: West Indies v India at Port of Spain, Jun 4, 2011
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1st ODI: West Indies v India at Port of Spain, Jun 6, 2011
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2nd ODI: West Indies v India at Port of Spain, Jun 8, 2011
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3rd ODI: West Indies v India at North Sound, Jun 11, 2011
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4th ODI: West Indies v India at North Sound, Jun 13, 2011
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5th ODI: West Indies v India at Kingston, Jun 16, 2011
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1st Test: West Indies v India at Kingston, Jun 20-23, 2011
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2nd Test: West Indies v India at Bridgetown, Jun 28-Jul 2, 2011
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3rd Test: West Indies v India at Roseau, Jul 6-10, 2011
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