Fifth Test: India versus West Indies, Jamaica

India down and out

Day Four

Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal triggered a middle-order collapse that nailed India's hopes of successfully chasing a world-record fourth innings total and winning the five-Test series, locked 1-1, at Sabina Park.

Defeat stares India in the face when play resumes on Wednesday, the last day of the final Test, with Zaheer Khan and Ajay Ratra at the crease, and the Indian total reading 237 for 7 in reply to the target of 408 runs set by the West Indies.

Morning session:

India wrapped up the remaining three West Indian wickets within the first half hour of play on the fourth morning, leaving themselves a world record target of 408 runs to win the fifth and final Test and seal the series in their favour.

However, in reply, India started badly and went to lunch on 57 for 2, with both openers gone. They still have five sessions to realise a fairytale win.

Zaheer Khan terminated Chanderpaul's stubborn 132-ball innings of 59 in his first over of the morning. Chanderpaul spanked a widish off-cutter back to the bowler after five runs were added to the overnight West Indian total. (170-8)

Chanderpaul walked away from the crease for the last time with a striking series aggregate of 562 runs, with an average of 146. Only skipper Carl Hooper has aggregated more than him in this series, though Chanderpaul played a more consistent part.

Three runs later, Adam Sanford threw his bat around, blasted Zaheer past the mid-off fielder for a boundary and then holed out to Sourav Ganguly at square leg off Harbhajan Singh for 5.

Zaheer, hunting for his maiden five-wicket haul, found the edge of Cameron Cuffy's bat on its way to Rahul Dravid at first slip. Television replays established that the ball was taken on the bounce. In the same over, Cuffy played the ball straight over the bowler's head as the lead stretched closer to the 400-run mark.

Pedro Collins, who batted stubbornly the previous evening, grew in confidence, reaching his highest Test score of 24 before Harbhajan wrapped up the innings, castling Collins. Collins, looking to play of the backfoot, missed the line of the ball to end his 125-minute vigil at the crease.

India were set a world-record target of 408 runs in the fourth innings - an effort that would require them to break their own record of 406, which they achieved in 1976 against the same opposition at Port-of-Spain.

Zaheer stood out in the innings for his performance with the ball, claiming four for 79 after his reckless dismissal while batting in the first innings.

Harbhajan Singh claimed three for 42 and increased his match tally to eight.

Indian innings:

Wasim Jaffer and Shiv Sundar Das made their way to the middle looking to accomplish the unimaginable. Until the first session on day three, the West Indies were running away the match before the Indian seam attack ambushed their second innings and gave themselves a glimmer of hope.

The Indian opening pair started on a positive note with Das playing a couple of cracking drives and Jaffer seemingly content to see the shine off the ball.

Left-armer Pedro Collins slipped one down Jaffer's pads, who flicked the ball straight to Wavell Hinds, at forward short-leg, who took yet another blinder to leave India at 19 for 1.

Das followed him back to the pavilion, LBW off a Collins delivery that pitched outside leg. Das walked back with a disappointing series and India's chances seeming improbable barring a miraculous innings from the batsmen to follow.

India were 25 for 2, still 383 runs away from winning the Test, with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid at the crease.

Dravid seemed positive in his approach, playing his strokes instead of withdrawing into a shell, slamming three fours in a Collins over. In his next over, Dravid pulled Collins to the mid-wicket fence as India went into lunch at 57-2.

Post Lunch session

The Indian innings was shored up by an 89-run stand between Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly as tea was taken with the score reading 166 for 3. India still need a further 242 runs to win.

Tendulkar, nearing another Test ton, was batting on 82 while Ganguly kept him company on 23.

Dravid's plucky resistance was the perfect foil for Tendulkar to wade into the tiring West Indian attack after lunch. The pair swapped roles. Dravid, struggling to find the gaps, managed just four runs from 26 balls, while Tendulkar, who scored a watchful 7 off 30 balls in the morning session, looked eager to get the scoreboard moving in the post-lunch session.

A deft leg-glance from Tendulkar's bat beat the wicketkeeper on its way to the fence to kick-start the the blitz from the master batsman. Off the very next ball in the same over, he smashed Cuffy past point for another four.

Dravid was the third Indian wicket to fall, when Adam Sanford rapped him on the pads with a ball appearing to be a tad high. Umpire Russell Tiffin's index finger had Dravid (30) marching back to the pavilion with the score reading 77 for 3. The Dravid-Tendulkar partnership had notched up 52 runs for the third wicket before Sanford struck.

With ice running through his veins, Tendulkar was unfazed by the dismissal of Dravid and continued to pick gaps in the field with increasing regularity.

Tendulkar, going down on one knee, then drove Dillon through the covers for a four, pulled the next delivery to the mid-wicket fence and flicked one through the on-side and ran three runs to reach a breezy half-century.

After drinks, the Tendulkar-Ganguly partnership registered a brisk 50-run partnership with Ganguly playing a watchful innings as India closed in on the huge Windies total.

Nearing tea, Tendulkar rocked onto the back-foot and cut Hooper to the fence to become the tenth Test batsman to cross the 8000-run mark.

At the stroke of tea, India had scored 109 runs in 31 overs at a rapid rate of 3.5 per over.

Post Tea session

The first delivery after tea saw Tendulkar steer Collins past the gully fielder for four to get the proceedings underway in the final session of the day. A worn out Windies attack had Tendulkar salivating and looking to get India as close as possible to the target.

In the curliest of twists, Collins went round the wicket, fired in one that kept a tad low and crashed into the stumps. Tendulkar, expecting the ball to rise more than it did, was on his haunches as another promising match-winning innings had been wrecked.

At 170 for 4, India were woken up from an improbable dream as Tendulkar walked back to the pavilion for 86.

Ganguly and Laxman came together yet again to weave an innings tearing at the seams. But the effort turned sour when six runs later Ganguly pulled a short-pitched delivery from Sanford into the safe hands of Ramnaresh Sarwan at mid-wicket to shut the door on an Indian win.

Laxman entertained with his array of strokes, pulling the bowlers majestically to the fence and helped India cross the 200-run mark. His innings was abruptly cut short when he pulled Sanford, got more height than distance on the ball, and Mervyn Dillon, running backwards from mid-wicket, took a difficult catch. (209-6)

Harbhajan Singh walked in and hung around with Ratra for a while before boredom got the better of him as he drove uppishly at mid-on fielder Cameron Cuffy off part-time spinner Chris Gayle to leave India reeling at 228-7.

Play was finally called off when the umpires offered the light to the batsmen, with India still 171 runs away from the target and three wickets separating the West Indies from a series triumph.

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Day 2
Day 3

Scoreboard