For the best part of five years, West Indies' cricketers have been a travelling circus, innocents abroad undeserving of an iota of sympathy. Yesterday, they showed us an all-too-rare glimpse of the sense of pride and purpose that once made them the standard-bearers of international cricket, rather than its basement-squatters. This morning, though, they reverted back to type with a vengeance, with the bowling so poor at times that one couldn't, even charitably, describe it as rubbish. They disposed of VVS Laxman comparatively early in the piece, so the new ball should have been invitation enough to carve through an Indian tail not prone to scoring runs by the bucketload. But instead of accuracy and venom, we got a full spread of hit-me balls that Harbhajan Singh, and later Javagal Srinath, tucked into with relish. From a team defending 167, it was unforgivable, and Roger Harper, the coach, could have been forgiven for wishing to be anywhere but here, amid this rabble.

If the bowling was awful, the fielding display could have filled an entire episode of Extreme Bloopers. What really grated was seeing a largely youthful side fielding with the agility and poise of an 80-year-old with two artificial hips - dropping catches faster than heads rolled during the most brutal phase of the French Revolution.

India's batsmen deserve credit, though, for making the most of such largesse. Harbhajan was magnificent, combining innovative and audacious strokeplay with an attitude that said Boo to Mervyn Dillon each time he wandered up the pitch to waste some more time with those pitiful stares. When Michael Holding did it, you tried hard to control the tremor in your knees. When Dillon does it, you're hard-pressed to stifle a yawn and say, "Oh, get on with it, for goodness' sake".

Srinath and Anil Kumble, while once again demonstrating mid-pitch communication skills that would embarrass a drunk coming off a bender, flayed the bowlers in the latter stages, leaving Carl Hooper to wince and dream of better days when he could have called on Messrs Ambrose and Walsh to settle matters in an over or two.

Conceding 85 more than they should have was bad enough, but what followed when they came out to bat was shocking. Chris Gayle threw kitchen sink and worktop at the fourth ball of the innings, in a reckless demonstration of what it means to be totally oblivious of your team's plight. Gayle has some level of talent, though nothing like his predecessors in the maroon cap, but there are times when he gives the impression that paper planes could fly into one ear and out the other without encountering an obstacle.

Thankfully for the team management, Wavell Hinds and Ramnaresh Sarwan batted like they should have from the first ball of the series. General Wavell was briefly Viceroy of India, and his West Indian namesake can certainly bat with regal authority when in the mood. Defence isn't his strongest suit, as this series has shown, but when he plays his strokes he can scatter the field with impunity. A moment's madness cut short this innings, but he might now have learnt that playing his natural aggressive game is the only way against Indian spinners brought up on cat-and-mouse.

It's a game that comes easily to Sarwan, though. He played the spinners with great assurance, almost always getting to the pitch to smother the spin. And when the opportunity presented itself, he was more than capable of the savage blow, as Harbhajan discovered when two deliveries flew either side of the sightscreen.

But while Sarwan's knock encompassed long periods of studious defence studded with the occasional imperious stroke, Hooper's was another minor masterpiece in timing and placement. But for umpire David Shepherd deciding to right a wrong (he had given Sarwan not-out when he tickled one behind from Zaheer Khan, when he had just 1 to his name), Hooper and Sarwan might conceivably have taken West Indies to the sort of total that would have posed serious questions of the Indians. As things stand, though, India shouldn't sweat too much on day four.

On a day when the West Indies batsmen finally batted like men instead of mice, they were left to lament a bowling display worthy of a public flogging. The next set of batsmen they come up against are from Bangladesh. Al-Shahriar Rokon and friends – who make fewer runs on average than the Indian tail – will hope their guests carry their Indian form with them, the form that makes them such a joy to watch ... from the batsman's perspective.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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