Cricket - 4th Test Match.

India vs. West Indies Test Series: 1-0.

A thrilled Indian bunch pose with the series trophy, West Indies v India, 4th Test, Jamaica, 3rd day, July 2, 2006. From: Cricinfo.

© AFP

This is the result of the 4th test: A 1-0 series victory in the Caribbean for India. It has been 35 long years since an Indian team had won a test series against the West Indies IN the Caribbean. It wasn't the best of victories. After all, India did drop from third to fourth place in the ICC Test Rankings despite the victory. This was because such great was the point differential between India and West Indies that India was expected to win the series at least 3-0 to gain any points on the ranking system. This would, of course, have been the case had it not been for rain in the second match and a little bit of bad luck in the first test where they failed to seal a victory due to just one wicket. Despite all this, a victory is a victory, especially such a historic one.

Meanwhile, there is an interesting article on BBC titled: India rebuilding must go on. The article seems critical of India's victory by a narrow margin and of Coach Chappell's experimenting with constant rotation in the squad with young players. I think the narrow margin wasn't India's fault at all. After all, they pretty much dominated the whole series, except for match 3 (which was nothing but a tame draw). As for the rotation, I would defend Chappell on that issue. The more Indian players that are experienced with the West Indies pitches, the better it is for India as the World Cup will take place in the Caribbean next year. Also, it serves to avoid excessive injuries or fatigue for just a handful of players. I must admit though that I was a bit frightened by the ODI series loss to the West Indies despite the new player rotation. Hopefully, the loss will result in a great experience with the Indian players.

After all, I firmly believe in the quote from Batman Begins: "And why do we fall, sir? So that we might better learn to pick ourselves up."

Man of the Series:

Rahul Dravid in a picture perfect cover drive, West Indies v India, 4th Test, Jamaica, 2nd day, July 1, 2006. From: Cricinfo.

© AFP

Of course! Who else would it be? The Wall. The Mr. Dependable. Rahul Dravid. He simply dominated most of the series in his tough and gritty batting. Dravid also won the Man of the Match Award due to his 81 and 68 in the first and second innings, respectively. Meanwhile, I will place Kumble in the honorable mention category for having taken six wickets in the second innings to lead India to victory in the 4th test match. There is an article titled after his effort: Kumble bowls India to historic Test victory. The full scorecard for the 4th match is available here.

In other cricket news, England were handed a humiliating loss by Sri Lanka in a 5-0 sweep of their ODI tour in England. I don't know what was worse for England- failing to defend a total of 321 or letting Sri Lanka reach the target in less than 38 overs. The scorecard is available here. But the Sri Lankans weren't done here. Oh no! After defeating England, they played an ODI match against the Netherlands. There they set an ODI world record of 443, surpassing South Africa's 438 against Australia. Of course, this record is not worth much as it was against a "minnow" team where as South Africa chased their total (which is MUCH harder) against the best team in the world! Well, that's all the big cricket news for now.