Close West Indies 191 all out (Chanderpaul 51, Agarkar 3-33) lost to India 260 all out (Tendulkar 65, Ganguly 56, Dillon 5-52) by 56 runs (target revised to 248)
scorecard

The Queen's Park Oval at Port-Of-Spain turned out to be India's lucky venue for the second time on this tour, when they won the second match of the double-header to take the series 2-1. Chasing a challenging total of 260 - which was later revised to 248 from 44 overs after a brief rain interruption - West Indies fought back spiritedly after half their side had been dismissed for 88 runs.

With an asking rate of nearly eight an over, Shivnarine Chanderpaul took charge. The stodge-master of the Test series suddenly was suddenly transformed into an aggressive strokeplayer, as he slammed 51 from just 40 balls. His sixth-wicket partnership with Ridley Jacobs - who hammered 36 from 30 balls - produced 71 runs in just over nine overs. Once they fell, it was always going to be India's match.

The Indian innings was an unusually steady accumulation of runs - a far-cry from the West Indian fits-and-starts effort. The top-five batsmen all got starts, but none managed to score more than Sachin Tendulkar's 65, scored from just 70 balls. Tendulkar also chipped in with Brian Lara's wicket to win the Man-of-the-Match award. Sourav Ganguly, India's only other batsman to top fifty, was declared Man of the Series.

Docked an over due to their tardy effort on the field, West Indies got off to a poor start, losing both openers within the first four overs. Wavell Hinds edged Ashish Nehra to Virender Sehwag for 2 (7 for 1), and Chris Gayle was done in by a superb yorker from Zaheer Khan for 3 (12 for 2).

Ramnaresh Sarwan and Brian Lara stitched together 61, but took almost 16 overs in getting the runs. The frustration finally told on Sarwan, who was bowled for 32 in trying to make room to play Harbhajan Singh on the off side (73 for 3). Five balls later Carl Hooper had a rare failure in the series - top-edging an attempted pull off Ajit Agarkar to Sehwag at mid-off for 1 - and India were well on top (76 for 4).

Lara had survived an early chance, when Sehwag dropped a low chance at second slip off Nehra, but never looked likely to make the Indians pay for the lapse. He scratched around for 69 balls in making 36, before holing out to Dinesh Mongia at deep square leg off Tendulkar's second ball (88 for 5). Tendulkar should have had his man the previous ball, but Rahul Dravid made a hash of a regulation stumping opportunity.

Then began the West Indian fightback. Using his feet to dance down the track to the slower bowlers, Chanderpaul drove and swept Sehwag and Tendulkar to frustration, reaching his half-century off just 38 balls. Ganguly rung in the bowling changes, bring on Zaheer, but Chanderpaul smote him for 10 runs in his comeback over. Harbhajan was slog-swept for a six too, and suddenly memories of Doug Marillier came racing back.

The resistance ended when Ganguly held on to a Chanderpaul top-edge off Harbhajan (159 for 6). And when Jacobs fell, caught magnificently by Harbhajan at fine leg off Agarkar (184 for 8), the Indians could finally heave a sigh of relief.

In between those two key dismissals, there was time for another umpiring blooper - almost. Yuvraj Singh's direct hit found Mervyn Dillon short of his ground, but Eddie Nichols signalled leg bye, ignoring the Indian appeal. After persistent appealing, Nichols signalled to the third umpire, almost casually. Replays showed Dillon to be short of the crease.

Earlier, the Indian innings promised much but ended rather tamely, as they were bowled out for 260 off the last ball of the 50th over. After a sedate start - just 11 from the first five overs - Sehwag and Ganguly upped the tempo, taking the score to 43 in the ninth, before Sehwag chipped Dillon to Gayle at midwicket for a run-a-ball 32. It was the third consecutive time he had been dismissed in that fashion.

Mongia and Ganguly put on the highest partnership in the Indian innings, adding 62 before Mongia scooped a slower one from Collymore to Gayle at midwicket for 28 (105 for 2). Ganguly made a responsible 56, and looked good for many more, before the pull shot brought about his downfall again. This time, the bowler was Dillon, and the fielder, Sarwan at midwicket (141 for 3). Dravid became the fourth batsman to be caught out at that fielding position, and at 187 for 4, India were in danger of throwing away a good start.

Tendulkar overcame a circumspect start and was soon nudging the ball around with effortless ease. The shoulder injury was affecting his strokeplay, but the clever placements ensured that the runs came at a fair clip. His departure in the 47th over - bowled off an inside edge off Dillon - meant that the late charge did not happened.

The final total of 260 seemed at least about 15 runs short of what India should have scored. In the final analysis, it proved to be more than sufficient.

Teams
West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Wavell Hinds, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Brian Lara, 5 Carl Hooper (capt), 6 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 7 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 8 Mervyn Dillon, 9 Pedro Collins, 10 Corey Collymore, 11 Cameron Cuffy.

India 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar 5 Dinesh Mongia, 6 Mohammed Kaif, 7 Yuvraj Singh, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan and 11 Ashish Nehra.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com in India.

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