India v West Indies - Third Test

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

India: SM Gavaskar, M Prabhakar, M Amarnath, VS Hazare, M Azharuddin, *MAK Pataudi, Kapil Dev, MH Mankad, +SMH Kirmani, S Venkataraghavan, BS Chandrasekhar.
West Indies: CG Greenidge, DL Haynes, RB Kanhai, IVA Richards, CH Lloyd, *GStA Sobers, +PJL Dujon, MD Marshall, LR Gibbs, CA Walsh, AL Valentine.

Debuts: Nil
Umpires: RS Dunne (NZL) & CJ Mitchley (SAF)
Toss: India

The momentum was with India after their stirring victory in Mumbai, and with the curator in Chennai serving up yet another wicket that was expected to favour spin, the home fans fancied their team's chances of recording a first ever series victory over West Indies. However, it was the tourists' slow men who made hay initially, and by tea on the first day the Indians had been bowled out for a paltry 138, with Alf Valentine grabbing the impressive figures of 6-33 off 20 overs in just his second appearance.

Valentine and Gibbs - who claimed his 100th ATG victim when he dismissed Mankad - bowled well, but there was no excuse for India's poor showing with the bat, and West Indies made their hosts pay to the fullest extent as they racked up the best part of 500 runs over the course of the next day and a half. Greenidge and Haynes started things off with a splendid opening stand of 163, by far the highest in the series for either side, and whilst Greenidge fell for 81, Haynes went on to record a fine hundred as India's bowlers struggled to exert any control.

Richards nearly joined him in three figures, but he fell four short after playing an increasingly assured innings that contained sixteen fours and one six, and upon his dismissal Dujon kept the board ticking over, stroking his way to an attractive 72 to take West Indies to an imposing total of 482 and a lead of 344. With the game not even having reached lunch on the third day India's task looked nigh on impossible, and there was every chance of another early finish as wickets fell steadily in the hosts' second innings.

Amarnath showed brief promise in reaching 41, but an excellent leg-cutter from Marshall accounted for him, and at 115-5 the game looked up for the Indians. Pataudi and Kapil Dev showed great application in taking their team through to stumps though, and they continued to bat defiantly throughout the morning and into the afternoon on day four in a stand that was reminiscent of Pataudi's liaison with Prabhakar in the previous Test. Both men batted with great care to blunt Sobers' bowling rotations, but with the stand worth 175, the sixth highest ever for the sixth wicket, Valentine returned to remove Pataudi for 88, a breakthrough which he followed up nine runs later by bowling Kapil Dev for 83, his highest score of the series.

India were 299-7 at this stage, still 45 behind, and although Mankad and Kirmani were able to add a further 64 valuable runs for the eighth wicket, India's final total of 373 left West Indies a target of just 30 to take the series. The tourists needlessly lost three cheap wickets in the scramble to secure the win before the close on day four, and the sides had to come back on the fifth morning to enable West Indies to knock off the remaining five runs they needed to complete victory. Garry Sobers' men had learned from their mistakes in Mumbai, and Valentine's first day performance put India behind the eight ball from the word go. West Indies deserved their victory, both in this match and in the series as a whole, and they now return to the Caribbean to take on New Zealand in a series that will complete the fifth season of ATG cricket.

Scores
IND 1st Inns 138 (Gavaskar 44; Valentine 6-33)
WI 1st Inns 482 (Haynes 107, Richards 96, Greenidge 81, Dujon 72; Venkataraghavan 4-136)
IND 2nd Inns 373 (Pataudi 88, Kapil Dev 83, Mankad 43, Amarnath 41; Valentine 4-102)
WI 2nd Inns 30-3

WEST INDIES WON BY 7 WICKETS


Man of the Match: AL Valentine