The West Indies came to India for a brief tour comprising of 2 test matches and 3 ODIs. Except for the face-saving victory in the second ODI at Vishakhapatnam, it was one of the worst performances of any West Indian side, which has visited India in the recent memory. They suffered humiliating innings defeat in both test matches and could not put up a very creditable show in the ODIs either. There were some stray sparks of individual brilliance but the players couldn’t combine well to put India under any pressure, all through the tour.
West Indies tour of India
One reason for the West Indies’ disastrous performance was clearly attributable to some forceful batting by India’s top order. In the five matches that were played, India scored an aggregate of 1714 runs and 855 or nearly 50% of those runs were scored by the awesome Indian trio of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Dhawan piled up 215 runs in the five matches, while Kohli’s total was 264. But the most staggering performance came from Rohit Sharma who amassed 376 runs, including two centuries in his first two tests. Useful contributions were also provided by Ravichandran Ashwin, 154, MS Dhoni 133, Cheteshwar Pujara, 130 in 2 innings, Sachin Tendulkar 84 in 2 innings, Murli Vijay 69 in 2 innings and Yuvraj Singh 99 in 3 innings.
Talking about the test series, the West Indians collectively averaged just 19.27 runs, while the bowlers also had a dismal average of 47.40. Chris Gayle, with his devastating reputation could not perform at all. The man usually has an imposing presence when he is batting and he is known for his murderous performance with the bat. He played 4 test innings and 1 ODI at Kochi before he suffered an injury. His scores in the five innings were 18, 33, 11, 35 and 0. The most gifted West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul recorded 41 as his highest score in the 4 test innings in this series and this was the first time in his career that he failed to score a fifty against India after playing at least 4 innings.
Other than the dominance of India’s batsmen, the task for the West Indies was also made difficult by two Indian bowlers, Mohammad Shami and Pragyan Ojha. While Shami kept them on a tight lease in Kolkata, even though it was his debut test, Ojha collected 10 wickets in the game at Mumbai.
In a critical opinion expressed in the media, Clive Lloyd said that the West Indians under Darren Sammy looked too much drunk on the cricket field during the test matches in Kolkata and Mumbai. When asked if he meant the T-20 hangover, Lloyd said the look did not suggest hangover but a state of drunkenness. The great Clive Lloyd brought to India two teams in mid-seventies and again in eighties, which dominated the world cricket. Before arriving in India, the West Indies had already won six test matches against teams, which were lower to them in the ICC test rankings. But the squad looked totally outplayed in the most one-sided test contests on the India tour. To be losing two back-to-back test matches by innings inside three days was extremely humiliating.
When the test series ended, there was a big question mark on Darren Sammy, the West Indian skipper. Many people felt that the West Indies selectors would have a hard task of finding out what should be done about Sammy. The captain made a total of 25 runs in 4 innings of the test series and bowled without taking a single wicket. However, he played a heroic innings in the second ODI at Vishakhapatnam, where the West Indies won the game. This was their only solace from an eminently forgettable India tour.