Navjot Sidhu was one of the mainstays of India's batting during their tour of the West Indies in 1996-97. He shares his memories with Wisden.com. After returning from England in 1996 (Sidhu had walked out midway through India's tour that year, following an altercation with captain Mohammad Azharuddin), I never thought about playing international cricket again. However, I did well in the Ranji Trophy that season – the 90-odd I scored against Maharashtra in the semi-finals was crucial. Though we lost the match, I believe that performance convinced the selectors that I deserved to come back into the national side for the tour of the West Indies.

It was a tremendous challenge to put behind all that had happened earlier, and concentrate on giving it my best shot. Playing for the country was motivation enough - all other impediments were minor, almost irrelevant, compared to the honour of representing India.

I had a poor start to the series, making 10 and 0 in the first Test at Kingston, Jamaica. Having come back from a fairly long lay-off, I was under tremendous pressure to perform. And the failures in the first Test didn't help matters.

But I always had the urge to succeed at the highest level of the game, and I wasn't going to give up so easily. There were many who had questioned my selection, and I was determined to prove them wrong.

In the second Test, at Port-of-Spain, I just decided I'd hang in, get a start, and then take it on from there. The long absence from international cricket had whetted my appetite and I was hungry to notch a big score. The first 25 runs were the toughest. Once I got past the initial jitters, things became much simpler.

Having been to the West Indies in 1989 too, I found the conditions much easier the second time round. The pitches had become slower and were similar to the tracks we play on at home. The wicket at Kingston was lightning-quick in '89, with the ball often buzzing past the batsman's nose: in '96, it hardly rose above the knee.

But more importantly, the bowling attack was far less potent. In 1989, West Indies had four high-quality fast bowlers in the line-up, and three more in the reserves. There was no respite for the batsmen: if you managed to see off the new-ball attack of Curtly Ambrose and Ian Bishop, then Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walshwould be waiting in the wings. And bowlers like Pattrick Patterson and Anthony Gray weren't even in the team. In 1996, West Indies had two quality bowlers in Ambrose and Walsh, but even they were past their prime.

The Port-of-Spain track was especially slow, and once I saw off the new ball, I knew a big score was there for the taking. I didn't try anything fancy – on that pitch, the sensible option was to grind, and that's exactly what I did. By close of play on the third day, I had made 196 runs, and duly completed my first, and only, double-century in Tests. I remember Brian Lara came up to me and said: "Well done, Champion." We took a big first-innings lead [140 runs], but with only about five sessions of play left, there was no chance of forcing a result.

The defeat in the third Test at Barbados still rankles. We managed a slender first-innings lead of 21, and then bowled superbly to dismiss West Indies for 140 in their second innings. We needed just 120 to pull off a famous win, and at 2 for no loss at the end of the third day's play, were confident in spite of the pitch, which was quite a minefield: some balls scooted through at ankle-height, while others reared shoulder-high from a length.

The fourth morning was a disaster. Sachin Tendulkar and I were given out to no-balls, and the rest of the batting capitulated in the face of some accurate West Indian bowling, aided by the pitch. Looking back, I think we started our celebrations far too early. The expectation of a win in the West Indies - which hadn't happened in the last 20 years - had us all excited even before we'd completed the job. By the end of play that day, the dressing-room wore a dejected look – we knew we had glory in our hands, and we let it slip by.

We had a team meeting the next evening where all the players were severely reprimanded. We tried to regroup for the next two Tests, but both those matches were severely affected by rain. What could have been a famous 1-0 series win turned out to be another overseas defeat.

Navjot Sidhu was talking to S Rajesh.

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