India to rest six top players for tour match against Busta XI The Port of Spain victory has given India a chance to experiment in their three-day tour match against a Busta XI side, an advantage they rarely have while touring abroad. Six top players – Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra – are being rested for the match, their performances thus far in the series assuring the team management of their form. VVS Laxman, who has also been in good nick, nevertheless finds himself not only in the side but captaining it. All three spinners – Sarandeep Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble – will play, as will Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Mongia. Their rivals are a team of Test hopefuls, with captain Ridley Jacobs almost sure to replace Junior Murray in the side at Bridgetown. Darren Ganga, Wavell and Ryan Hinds, Dinanath Ramnarine and Pedro Collins all stand a shot of getting back into the Test side, and the teams, being fairly evenly matched, should throw up a good contest.

Wadekar, Bedi praise victorious Indian team The two captains who led India to her previous two Test wins in the Caribbean were quick to praise Sourav Ganguly’s men for winning the second Test against the West Indies at Port of Spain. "It is a great feeling. They really fought well," Ajit Wadekar, the skipper of the history-making Indian team in 1971, said. Wadekar's team had also won the second of five Tests, also played on that occasion at Port of Spain. "They showed great aggression. I could see that in the eyes of (skipper) Sourav Ganguly," he observed. Talking of the Indian skipper, Wadekar said, "He’s got the right attitude. You have to be aggressive, and Ganguly is an aggressive captain. I thought he handled his bowlers pretty well." Meanwhile, Bishan Singh Bedi, who led India to another famous win at the same ground in 1976, was also jubilant. "It is absolutely fantastic. It was a real test for Indian cricket, and they came out triumphant," he said. But he then went on to warn Ganguly against becoming too defensive in the upcoming matches. "There is no doubt we are a better side, but we've got to prove it. This was a brilliant win, coming from a good team effort. But there are three Tests to go. We must resist the temptation of sitting on the lead, as we did in 1971. India could have won two more Tests in 1971 had we played our natural attacking game after winning the second Test match," the legendary left-arm spinner said. "I hope Ganguly does not follow the same pattern. It could be disastrous with the West Indies going all out on faster pitches in the remaining three Tests," Bedi added.

Detain Gavaskar! It was a strange reception that Sunil Gavaskar got on arriving at Port of Spain. A senior official from the immigration department at the airport was quick to insist that the little master be detained. The reason? Well, how could he and his cricket-loving colleagues let the man who took 13 Test centuries off their famed pace quartet of yesteryear go without even an autograph? Their reverence for the great man is understandable when one considers that it was at the Queen’s Park Oval that the Gavaskar legend began. As a 21-year-old debutant opener, Gavaskar made two 65s, the second unbeaten, and also scored the runs that secured India its first win in the Caribbean. That was but the beginning of a long love-affair with a ground that was to see him score 793 runs there at 99.12 with four hundreds and two fifties in nine innings.

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