Sports Desk: A confident India landed in the Caribbean on Thursday to stake their claim for a tri-series involving hosts West Indies and neighbours Sri Lanka.
Fresh from their Champions Trophy win in England, India are a buoyant lot. Dhoni’s boys however would do well to keep complacency at bay, for while West Indies boasts of Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, and Darren Sammy among others, Sri Lankans know India like the back of their hand.
India kick off their tri-series campaign against the hosts on Sunday, but before they do that, here’s a lowdown on some of India’s best moments in the Caribbean:
India in Indies
From 1983 to 2011, India played 29 ODIs in West Indies, winning 10, losing 18, while one match couldn’t produce any result.
India’s highest score in West Indies is 339 runs.
First Salvo
India won its first game in West Indies on March 29, 1983.
Playing against hosts, Kapil’s Devils won the game by 27 runs in Guyana. The captain led from the front, scoring 72 and claiming 2 wickets.
Batting first, India posted 282 runs off 47 overs. Sunil Gavaskar top scored with 90.
The West Indies’ reply was led by Viv Richards’ 64, while Jeff Dujon scored 53 and Faoud Bacchus 52.
Despite these efforts, the West Indies folded for 255.
Ravi Shastri picked three, while Kapil Dev, Sandhu and Madan Lal chipped in with 2 wickets each.
Sachin does it
While is captaincy career was largely chequered, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar led India to its second win on Caribbean soil on April 27, 1997.
Man of the Match Abey Kuruvilla claimed 3 wickets for 23 runs, while debutant Noel David took 3 for 21.
Team India restricted West Indies to 121 off 43.5 overs, and achieved a rain-revised target of 113 in just 23.1 overs.
Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly’s unbeaten 65 and 39 respectively meant India got home by 10 wickets.
Dada creates history
In India’s 2002 tour to Caribbean, Saurav Ganguly entered record books, becoming India’s first skipper to ensure a series-win in West Indies.
After first two games were washed out, India, riding on Tinu Yohannan and Ajit Agarkar’s burst of three wickets each, shot out the West Indies for 186.
India got home in just 43.5 overs, with Dinesh Mongia contributing 74, and skipper Ganguly making 41.
Tendulkar finished unbeaten on 34.
The series win, finally
India won the series, their first in Caribbean, on June 2, 2002.
Batting first in Port-of-Spain, India scored 260. Ganguly contributed with 56, while Tendulkar made 65.
In reply, India’s bowlers were up to the task, with Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh snaring 2 wickets apiece, while Ajit Agarkar claimed 3 for 33.
Zaheer Khan got rid of a dangerous Chris Gayle, and legend Brian Lara was done in by another legend, Sachin Tendulkar.
Mr Dependable joins the fun!
On May 18, 2006, Rahul Dravid led India to its fifth victory against West Indies in its own backyard.
However, India had already lost the series by then.
Riding on Chris Gayle’s 123, Windies set India 252 to win. Dravid led from the front, scoring a n uncharacteristically quick 105, while Mohammad Kaif made 68 in India’s 5-wicket win.
Dhoni does a Dada
Touring West Indies in June 2009, MS Dhoni led India to its second series win there.
In the first match of the series, played on June 26, 2009, Yuvraj Singh’s whirlwind 131 off 102 balls and Dinesh Karthik’s 67 powered India to a mammoth 339.
West Indies tried hard, but eventually finished on 319.
The moment
Team India trounced West Indies to win the series 2-1.
Batting first, West Indies scored just 186, a total India overhauled at the loss of just 4 wickets.
Dhoni, who contributed an unbeaten 46, bagged the Man of the Match and Player of the Series awards.
Raina steps into big shoes
BCCI rested Dhoni for India’s next outing in West Indies. Suresh Raina was named stand-in skipper, and the left-handed batsman led India to a 3-2 win.
India won the first match by 4 wickets, with Rohit Sharma and a certain Shikhar Dhawan scoring half centuries.
In the next game, Virat Kohli’s 81 and Parthiv Patel’s 56 helped India to a 7-wicket win.
History
Raina led India to another win in the next game, thereby winning the series for India.
Rohit Sharma had a good series too, finishing as the Player of the Series.
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