The end was typically meek. After briefly raising visions of Kolkata, India gave lie to the belief that they have mastered the art of the miracle victory. Kolkata, Kolkata, Kolkata, it was everywhere – in the press box, in the e-mail, in the morning's papers. Of course, it wasn't going to happen. It took two balls from Ramnaresh Sarwan, yes, Sarwan - he bowls leggies when nothing is going West Indies' way - to nip India's resistance.

Yet, while Sourav Ganguly was at the crease, even the most inveterate pessimist would have felt his soul lifting. Ganguly had watched his team-mates fall away and was the last man out in the first innings; in the second he stayed unbeaten. He alone in this Test match has represented the grit needed to win overseas. How things have changed. He who has been so often considered the weak link, has led from the front.

Captain Defiant could have used support. It's true that the rest of the middle order flopped in this Test, but it is truer that the lower order have been flopping for far too long. Today, Zaheer Khan was playing the innings of his life. Bludgeony, lucky - but he had the conviction to get to 46. His dismissal to Sarwan's half-tracker could be explained away as one of those things.

But what of Javagal Srinath? Harbhajan Singh? Ashish Nehra? Once more they did not hang on with the specialist batsman. Worse is the manner in which they have been losing their wickets – trying to bat like Viv Richards is unadvisable if you don't have the talent.

Had Ganguly received some support in the first dig, and some more today, India may have been making West Indies chase 105, not 5. At the post-match conference, Ganguly was rightly hard on the middle and lower order. He gave two instances of teams recovering from a perilous position on day one of this pitch. In May 2000, Pakistan were 37 for five, they reached 253. A year before that, Australia were 36 for 3, they went all the way upto 490.

Yet, at the end of this third Test, you couldn't help but be pleased for the people of the West Indies. What had started out as a pleasant Sunday with a lilting scent of victory turned at the Kensington Oval, turned into one large party as the afternoon wore on. At the time this report has gone out, it's been two hours since the winning runs were hit. But the reggae's still playing, the Banks beers are still flowing, and they're still dancing. Let's see what Antigua brings.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden.com India. His reports will appear here throughout the Test series.

More Indian Verdicts
Day 1 Weak weak India
Day 2 Subcontinental drift
Day 3 No second-innings master

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