West Indies v India - Second Test

Queen's Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad

West Indies: CG Greenidge, LG Rowe, GA Headley, IVA Richards, FMM Worrell, *GStA Sobers, +PJL Dujon, MD Marshall, MA Holding, CEL Ambrose, CA Walsh.
India: SM Gavaskar, +FM Engineer, VL Manjrekar, VS Hazare, PR Umrigar, *MAK Pataudi, Kapil Dev, M Prabhakar, EAS Prasanna, BKV Prasad, BS Chandrasekhar.

Debuts: LG Rowe (WI)
Umpires: RS Dunne (NZL) & BC Cooray (SL)
Toss: India

There were changes in both camps for the second Test; India dropped Ghavri in favour of Chandrasekhar, whilst West Indies went for extra pace, with Michael Holding coming in for Gibbs and Curtly Ambrose replacing the injured Garner. Lawrence Rowe would also make his debut in place of the under-performing Haynes.

Neither captain was happy with the surface prepared at the Queen's Park Oval, and it therefore came as no surprise when Pataudi inserted his opponents upon winning the toss. However, by the game's halfway stage it was West Indies that held the advantage, leading by 125 on first innings after India's bowlers failed to take advantage of the conditions. Rowe (43) and Headley (89) put on 101 for the second wicket, and after the innings slumped to 211-7 the eighth wicket pair of Dujon (98*) and Holding (52) contributed a national record 120 as West Indies totalled 362; four dropped catches didn't help the Indians cause either. In reply the tourists advanced to 176-3, but a torrid third afternoon saw the innings subside to 237 all out in the face of an unrelenting pace barrage, and as bravely as most of the Indians batted, Gavaskar's 85 was the only innings to make any significant impact in the runs department.

Headley batted superbly in both innings for West Indies

Greenidge went for a duck in the first over of West Indies' second innings, but Rowe and Headley put together their second hundred partnership of the match, and although Rowe again fell in the forties Headley, who had been dropped on 2, pressed on to complete a deserved century. India's attack simply lacked the necessary firepower to take advantage of the pitch conditions, and Viv Richards took full advantage as he ended his poor run by smashing a brutal, undefeated 124 out of a 203 partnership with Headley for the third wicket. Richards was also dropped, on 83, by Gavaskar in the slips, and when Sobers declared following Headley's dismissal midway through the fourth afternoon, West Indies led by 430 and India looked a tired and dispirited team.

Richards blasted his way back into form on the fourth day

Engineer, Manjrekar and Hazare all departed for single figures as the tourists slumped to 56-3 in their final innings, and although Gavaskar and Umrigar managed to progress the score to 118-3 by stumps, West Indies were still the overwhelming favourites going into the final day. India's fourth wicket pair remained resolute though, batting through the whole morning to take the total to 180-3, and a tempestuous afternoon session ended with the tourists still in with a chance of pulling off the greatest of escapes. Rowe spilled a simple chance to give Umrigar a life on 70, and on 99 Gavaskar survived a hugely confident shout for caught behind off the bowling of Marshall, a decision that allowed him to complete a wonderful hundred in the very next over. Umrigar also reached three figures before finally edging Marshall behind for 102, but his partnership with Gavaskar had spanned almost five and a half hours and had eaten up 72 overs in adding exactly 200 runs.

Umrigar's eighth Test hundred was also one of his finest

India took tea on 264-4 and now needed to survive for just another 35 overs, but Pataudi soon went for 9 and then Walsh claimed the crucial wicket of Gavaskar, caught by Rowe for 149, to leave the Indians on 294-6 with 22 overs remaining. Gavaskar had defied his opponents for more than eight hours, but his efforts now looked like they could all be in vain as West Indies closed in for the kill. Kapil Dev, Prabhakar and Prasanna all clung on gamely, but when the ninth wicket fell on 347 West Indies had sixteen deliveries left to complete the victory. Prasad and Chandrasekhar dug in, but with five balls remaining Ambrose seemed to have trapped Chandra plumb in front. Umpire Cooray remained unmoved though, and after playing and missing at the next three deliveries Chandra got bat on the final ball to secure the draw for India and hero status for himself. It was a suitably dramatic end to what had been one of the greatest of all Test matches, and India's lead in the series remains intact as the teams head to Guyana for the third match of what is proving to be a highly unpredictable series.

Just like a wall, they couldn't out Gavaskar at all...

Score Summary
WI 1st Inns 362 (Dujon 98*, Headley 89, Holding 52, Rowe 43)
IND 1st Inns 237 (Gavaskar 85)
WI 2nd Inns 305-3 dec. (Richards 124*, Headley 123, Rowe 49)
IND 2nd Inns 352-9 (Gavaskar 149, Umrigar 102)

MATCH DRAWN

1st & 2nd innings scorecards (click to enlarge)

Close of play
Day 1 - West Indies 1st innings 296-7 (Dujon 65*, Holding 37*; 88 ov)
Day 2 - India 1st innings 156-3 (Gavaskar 77*, Umrigar 5*; 49 ov)
Day 3 - West Indies 2nd innings 102-1 (Headley 50*, Rowe 49*; 30 ov)
Day 4 - India 2nd innings 118-3 (Gavaskar 62*, Umrigar 32*; 35 ov)
Day 5 - India 2nd innings 352-9 (125 ov) - end of match

Notes
▪ Dujon and Holding's partnership of 120 is West Indies' highest for the eighth wicket
▪ India's 352-9 is their highest ever 4th innings total and the fourth highest overall

Man of the Match: SM Gavaskar