Close West Indies 291 for 5 (Gayle 101, Hinds 80) beat India 290 for 8 (Laxman 71, Ganguly 53, Sehwag 52) by 5 wickets, with seven balls to spare
Scorecard

May the better man win, the old adage says, but in this series, it could be paraphrased to read: "may the team batting second win". The Indian and West Indian innings were constructed around similar elements: explosive starts, middle-order consolidations that slowed the momentum, and hiccups towards the 40-over mark. But West Indies knew what their target was, and that helped their last recognised batsmen, Carl Hooper and Ricardo Powell, pace the innings and take them to victory. The bowlers, on both sides, were largely irrelevant.

West Indies seized the momentum before the first ball was bowled, winning the toss and inserting India. But Virender Sehwag seized it right back with a belligerent half-century off just 37 balls. A vegetarian who lauds the nutritious qualities of milk, Sehwag attacked his prey like a predator starved for days. He smashed Pedro Collins out of the attack with five fours in two overs, took 18 runs off a Wavell Hinds over and took India to a run-rate of over eight by the tenth over, at which point he was out, failing to clear Shivnarine Chanderpaul at mid-on with a lofted drive (88 for 1).

Sourav Ganguly, who had almost been decapitated earlier by a ferocious on-drive from Sehwag, kept his head and punished the loose balls while taking plenty of singles all the while. His fifty came at a strike-rate of 100, but just when he looked set for a big one, he was out trying to cut Hooper and only managing to play on (134 for 2). Rahul Dravid then came in and made a crafty 33, a couple of delectable reverse-sweeps off Chris Gayle forming an artistic counterpoint to Sehwag's primal savagery earlier in the day. But a mistimed pull off Marlon Samuels did for him in the 36th over, caught by Chris Gayle at deep midwicket. India was then on 212 for 3, all set for the charge.

VVS Laxman made a worthy 71, but it took all of 101 balls, and he always seemed unable to lift the tempo up and frustrated at his inability to do so. He fell shortly after Dravid did, and wickets fell at regular intervals from there on as India never managed to get a slog-overs charge together.

Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle then unleashed an assault on the Indian bowlers that made Sehwag look positively laggardly. L Balaji, making his international debut, was hammered for 34 runs in three overs. He kept giving the batsmen width outside off, and the batsmen kept plonking their foot down and smashing him through the covers, bisecting the field with the precision of geometry wizards wielding compasses.

Javagal Srinath wasn't spared either. Hinds hit him for three fours in his second over and Gayle slashed him for a four in his fifth before Hinds smashed him over long-on into the crowd, hitting a lady called Malti Ben on her head. The lady rubbed her scalp and gave a bemused smile, with perhaps a slight hint of compassion for the battered Indian bowlers.

Hinds's half-century came off just 32 balls, and with West Indies on 120 at the end of the 14th over, one would have thought that they would be content to milk the bowling. But Hinds wanted to slaughter the cow. He smashed Harbhajan for a straight six in the 15th over – which Srinath caught before stumbling over the ropes – but was out in the 16th, top-edging Sehwag for Ganguly at slip to take an easy catch (132 for 1). His 80 came off just 61 balls.

Marlon Samuels (1) was out shortly after, edging a topspinner from Harbhajan to Ganguly at slip (135 for 2). And here, as in India's case after Sehwag's dismissal, the momentum slowed. Indian spin bottled up the West Indian genie, as Harbhajan and Sehwag bowled particularly well to keep Gayle and Sarwan from keeping the scoreboard ticking as they would have liked. Murali Kartik was the revelation though, flighting the ball liberally, but bowling with great control and variation to keep the runs down. The required run-rate went from under five an over to more than six, and Kartik's ten overs for 38 runs had a large part to play in this.

At one point, Gayle and Sarwan had added 27 in 63 balls, but Gayle soon seized the momentum right back, smashing Yuvraj for six over long-on. Sarwan hit Laxman into the crowd in the next over, but it was Ganguly's second over which was decisive: 19 runs came off it, with Gayle hitting two fours and a six and Sarwan chipping in with a four as well.

Then Kartik struck, deceiving Sarwan (34 off 55) in flight and getting him to edge one to Ganguly at slip as he tried to drive against the spin (218 for 3). Gayle went on his hundred and West Indies seemed to be coasting when a double-strike opened the match out again. First, Chanderpaul (8) ran himself out after a mix-up with his partner so that Gayle, already well set, could see the team through (239 for 4). But the very next ball, Gayle, on 101, was adjudged caught behind by Asoka de Silva, the umpire, even though Dravid hadn't even appealed.

But Hooper and Powell, unlike the Indian lower-middle order earlier in the day, had a target to aim for, and they got there comfortably. West Indies led 3-2 in the series and India's fightback would now depend as much on their bowlers as on a shiny piece of metal that will be flipped through the air two more times this month – and one side of that coin will have a map of India on it.

Teams
India 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Rahul Dravid (wk), 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Mohammad Kaif, 7 Sanjay Bangar, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Murali Kartik, 10 Javagal Srinath, 11 L Balaji.

West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Wavell Hinds, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Carl Hooper (capt), 6 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 7 Ricardo Powell, 8 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 9 Vasbert Drakes, 10 Corey Collymore, 11 Pedro Collins.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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