Sarwan... topscored with 78. - Reuters CHENNAI, India, CMC:
INDIA SECURED a winning 2-0 series lead when they whipped the West Indies by eight wickets on the fourth day of the second Test at the Chidambaram Stadium yesterday.
The Indians, set a mere 81 runs to win after the West Indies crashed to 229 all out in their second innings, cruised to victory at 81 for two off just 21.1 overs, to record their first series win over the Caribbean side in 24 years.
"We've just dropped too many catches," West Indies captain Carl Hooper said in his post-game interview, bemoaning 10 dropped catches that helped India score 316 in reply to the West Indies' first innings 167.
The third and final Test starts October 30 in Calcutta.
The West Indies, whose woeful tour record sinks to 25 defeats in their last 29 Test matches, began the day with a battling approach, but shrunk under the pressure to lose their last six wickets for 21 runs.
From an overnight position of 186 for four, the West Indies fended off the Indian spin attack of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble for 55 minutes in the morning session before Ramnaresh Sarwan's dismissal for 78 triggered a huge collapse.
Just after the drinks break, Sarwan, 22 short of a first Test century, was trapped leg before wicket to a delivery by left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan that kept slightly low.
Man-of-the-match Harbajan then raided the West Indies lower order with three wickets in one over as the tourists declined from 210 for five to 214 for eight.
Ryan Hinds, who had been watchful for seven runs off 77 balls, was caught - off the leading edge -- by Kumble at cover, hitting across the line, and Gareth Breese was caught first ball at leg gully by captain Sourav Ganguly.
Mervyn Dillon (4) averted the hattrick but was unluckily given out three balls later. The ball hit bat then pad but umpire Asoka de Silva ruled him out leg before wicket.a
Eight runs later, wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel snatched a magnificent, low catch, tumbling to his left to remove Ridley Jacobs (3) off Khan, who wrapped the innings in his next over when he bowled Jermaine Lawson (2).
Harbhajan led the Indian bowling with four for 79 off 30 overs to end with a match haul of seven for 135, while Khan picked up with three for 23 off 12.4 overs.
Javagal Srinath, who did not bowl on Sunday, had two for 16, and Kumble, one for 87, were the other wicket-takers.
With rain looming and groundsmen assembling covers on the boundary, India then hastily achieved their sub-100 target for victory.
Hooper had two fours and a huge six over long on struck off him by Virender Sehwag, but the West Indies captain removed the attacking opener with the last ball of the same over.
Sehwag hit 33 off 31 balls with three fours and two sixes, but as he charged down the track for another big hit, Hooper - spotting his advance - beat him with a quicker delivery outside the off-stump and Ridley Jacobs effected an easy stumping.
Hooper (2-32) also dislodged Sanjay Bangar (21) caught at first slip by Chris Gayle at 61 for two, but Sachin Tendulkar (16) and Rahul Dravid (6) completed the easy win for the home side soon after lunch.
As a slight drizzle threatened to take the players off the field, Tendulkar ended the match by cutting off-spinner Gareth Breese to the backward square boundary for India to complement their big innings and 112-run win in the first test in Mumbai a week earlier.
Hooper, clearly unhappy over his team's performance, also pointed to inadequate totals in the most batting friendly conditions the pitch offered.
"We had first use of the wicket in this Test match and didn't make use of it," Hooper said.
Ganguly, on pain-killers for a sore back after a collision with Kumble as both went for a catch to dismiss Pedro Collins, praised his team's all-round effort.
"I think we are playing very well that's the key and everybody is contributing which I think is important," he said.
"The wicket's are very flat but I am very happy with the effort of the fast bowlers, especially (Javagal) Srinath and Zaheer (Khan), spinners are expected to do well on these sorts of wickets, but we've played together and we have done very well," said Ganguly, who now has 13 wins as Test captain, one behind Mohammad Azharuddin's Indian record.
SCOREBOARD
West Indies 1st innings 167 (C.Hooper 35; A.Kumble 5-30)
India 1st innings 316 (V.Sehwag 61; M.Dillon 3-44)
West Indies 2nd innings (overnight 186 for 4):
C.Gayle c Kumble b Srinath 0
W.Hinds c Ganguly b Harbhajan 61
R.Sarwan lbw Khan 78
S.Chanderpaul c Harbhajan b Srinath 3
C.Hooper c wkp Patel b Kumble 46
R.Hinds c Kumble b Harbhajan 7
+R.Jacobs c wkp Patel b Khan 3
G.Breese c Ganguly b Harbhajan 0
M.Dillon lbw Harbhajan 4
P.Collins not out 6
J.Lawson b Khan 2
Extras (b12, lb3, w1, nb3) 19
TOTAL (all out) 229
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-96, 3-107, 4-179, 5-208, 6-210, 7-210, 8-214, 9-222.
Bowling: Srinath 9-4-16-2; Khan 12.4-5-23-3 (2nb, 1w); Harbhajan Singh 30-6-79-4; Kumble 26-3-87-1; Sehwag 2-0-9-0 (1nb).
India 2nd innings:
S.Bangar c Gayle b Hooper 20
V.Sehwag st Jacobs b Hooper 33
R.Dravid not out 6
S.Tendulkar not out 16
Extras (lb3, nb3) 6
TOTAL (for 2 wickets) 81
Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-61
Bowling: Dillon 5-1-10-0; Collins 2-0-7-0 (2nb); Lawson 2-0-2-0; Breese 5.1-0-27-0; Hooper 7-1-32-2 (1nb)
Result: India won by eight wickets
Man-of-the-match: Harbhajan Singh (India)
Toss: West Indies
Umpires: David Shepherd (England), Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka)
Match Referee: Mike Proctor
