Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
Tony Becca
WHEN INDIA arrived in the Caribbean for the Digicel one-day and Test series, hardly any one gave West Indies a chance of winning one or the other.
In fact, there was talk that with India doing so well and ranked at number three in both versions of the game, the score at the end would have been 5-0 and 4-0 in their favour.
Well, at the end of the one-day series, and after losing the first match at that, it was four for West Indies and one for India. With three Test matches gone, although West Indies were hanging on for a draw at the end of the first two, it is 0-0 as both teams enter the fourth and final Test today at Sabina Park.
The question now, therefore, is this: Can West Indies pull it off - can they rise to the occasion, win this Test and make it a double?
Looking at both teams, looking at what has gone on before in this series, although India are not as strong as they appeared coming into the contest, the odds are against West Indies for the simple reason that as brilliant as they can be, they are not consistent with bat, ball or in the field where they tend to drop some relatively easy catches.
WINNER-TAKE-ALL CLASH
West Indies captain Brian Lara gives Corey Collymore some batting tips at the team's training session at Kensington Oval on Wednesday. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
This, however, is one match. It is a winner-take-all showdown and although India boast a batting line-up of Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Vangipurappu Laxman, captain Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif and the dangerous Mahendra Dhoni who, but for one occasion, has failed to fire, the West Indies line-up of Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Ramnaresh Sarwan, captain Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels is, at its best, as good or better.
The problem for West Indies could be and should be their bowling.
While India, with three pacers from Munaf Patel, Shantha-kumaran Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan and Vikram Singh, plus legspinner Anil Kumble, or preferably with two of their four pacers plus Kumble and offspinner Harbhajan Singh, boast a well-balanced combination - a combination that can exploit whatever type of pitch Sabina turns out to be - the West Indies attack, regardless of the names and, but for the gentle offerings of part-time offspinners Gayle and Samuels, will be pace and nothing but pace, with none of them electric pace.
LIVELIER PITCH
Once again, however, it is one match. The Sabina Park pitch promises to be livelier than those in Antigua, St. Lucia and St. Kitts. And, although legspinner Danish Kaneria took five for 46 during Pakistan's victory in the previous Test match at Sabina Park, lest it be forgotten, Steve Harmison of England took seven for 12 at Sabina Park two years ago and Corey Collymore bagged seven for 57 in the West Indies victory over Sri Lanka in 2003.
It is a pity that fast bowler Fidel Edwards is injured and the West Indies are not at full strength. Pedro Collins is good, he swings the ball both ways, and is always capable of getting an early wicket or two.
The problem with the left-hander, however, is that he is good for only a few overs and if all the bowlers were fit and ready, my attack for this Sabina Park Test would have been Edwards, Taylor, Collymore and left-arm wrist spinner Dave Mohammed plus all-rounder Dwayne Bravo. Such an attack, with their batting, would have handed West Indies a great chance at Sabina Park.
Sabina Park has been a good hunting ground for West Indies - no question about that. Since 1995 when they lost to Australia and their great run as undisputed champions of the world ended, the West Indies have won six of the 10 Test matches played there, they have lost only two, and even without Edwards and Mohammed, if Gayle scores his first century at Sabina Park, if Lara reproduces anything like his masterpiece 213 against Australia in 1999 or his 153 against Pakistan last year, and if Ganga, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Bravo and Samuels bat nearly as well as they can, the West Indies have a chance to steal a victory that to many appeared impossible at the start of the contest.
